Yesterday, I had my graduation ceremony. After years of university with absolutely no help besides occasional rides to the bus stop and, very rarely, to campus, I finally graduated. Here's what my parents have done in the lead-up to graduation and the day after instead of supporting me.
My parents spent months leading up to the graduation freaking out about how I'll get a job, trying to control my hair and clothing (even implying I'm ugly when I choose my own hair and clothing), harassing me to hand out business cards to everyone I meet (especially if the situation would be an immense faux pas), grilling me on if my grades are good, lecturing me relentlessly about how I need to keep in contact with people in my class and it's soooo important and would I like to hear about how my dad got a job through nepotism for the eightieth time, asking me questions they already know the answers to (Yes, I'm still talking to my former classmates. Yes, I know that you worked in the Yukon when you were 18. Yes, I know about your friend who worked in a weather station. Yes, I know you had to move to find a job in the 1980s. Yes, I am aware that it is a possibility I might have to move too. Yes, I know that it's okay to invite people over to the house, you've only "informed" me about a hundred times. Yes, I know that school is important.) Every single thing that they "inform" me about is something I have very clearly expressed that I understand, and is just thinly veiled criticism. But my dad needs to lecture more than he needs oxygen.
Just constant nitpicking, criticism, and nothing I ever did was enough. I couldn't even focus on grades, because they would in their own words "put pressure on" me to do what they wanted. To handle their emotions for them. They're obsessed with the idea that I would have to move to a tiny town or work in a coal mine to find a job, because I'm more highly educated than my dad (who dropped out of university despite having all expenses paid by his father), and because my dad worked in the Yukon for two summers. He will never shut up about that, and he even goes so far as to hold us hostage with implicit threat of a massive tantrum to listen to him tell us the story again and again and again and to show us pictures of the place he worked on Google maps and point to everything he remembers. Sometimes he can go on for half an hour just repeating himself over and over.
Last summer, my parents even went and took action without my knowledge or approval to try and get a job set up for me cleaning up a mine contaminated with arsenic in the middle of nowhere, NWT. They tried to guilt and shame me into it ("What are your plans instead? Do you have another job lined up? Because you need to have a job. You can't sit around all day." This coming almost literally one week into summer vacation after my second-last year of university, when I could be using my energy to find interesting co-ops or explore hobbies or travel, instead dealing with their harassment and obsession with trying to literally trap me in a fucking arsenic mine.) They went on and on, lectured me over and over, implied that I would be embarrassing my grandfather if I didn't go, and so on. Eventually they said "You can go work or get a certification", and I picked the certification, but then they got grumpy anyways, and every week for the entire summer they would ask "Are you still working on the certification?". Of course, dipsh*t. I've told you fifty times how long the program lasts.
They don't care about what I'm learning in class, don't care about my hobbies or interests, only care about my friends as either a means to get backdoored into a job or a "nice French Canadian woman" to have babies with. They don't care if I'm struggling, and are completely unavailable to help in any regard. Any request for help would result in a guilt trip. Even if I actually couldn't eat dinner with the family for one day because I had a test, my father would get raw emotions and I'd have to walk on eggshells for a few days. The one time I mentioned I was having trouble studying, instead of shutting up and no longer ranting in the main floor where I could hear him or turning the TV off, he just dragged a table into the unfurnished boiler room (without asking me) and then told me that I would have to study there. I wasn't allowed to choose not to, because he'd already set it up. Ironically, my anger at him did let me study pretty well for the one day that I was forced there. He tried to keep me there long-term because he thought it was just such a great idea, but I managed to trick him into thinking I didn't need help studying anymore, so I got to study at a desk with a light on it and flooring that wasn't bare cement. Hooray for the most minor victory imaginable.
In the months leading up to graduation, did they care about how hard I was working at my capstone project and offer support? Absolutely not! Did they care about how well my sleep quality was, how many times the cat woke me up because they didn't play with her enough or give her enough attention? Nope! Did they care about how exhausting it was to deal with their constant lectures on the same topics, and to have to give them affirmations ("Yes, you're right, that's right, good job, nice, very tasty, good work, oh really?, neat, that's cool, how'd you make that?, mhm, I agree, you're being reasonable, they're being ridiculous, that's crazy") a hundred times a day? Not even in the slightest!
We spend more time talking about my dad's college friends than about anything I or my brother care about.
Then, leading up to graduation. all I've gotten are the most humiliating, infuriating, insulting messages and lectures from my parents. I get almost daily emails and texts saying "You need to get a job, it's important to look for a job" despite the fact I've told them I am looking probably fifty times. Too cowardly to say it to my face. I've been texted literal links to a Google search for "[degree name] jobs [city]" more than once. Both my parents treat me like I don't listen, when I do. They treat me like I'm lazy, when I've put myself through university with no help even after they lied to me about giving me financial aid and made me out to be a bully demanding more money when all I did was say "alright" and then pay for it myself. They must have sternly given me a talking to about how "I'm not going to pay for university, you know that, right? You need to pay. Don't expect us to pay. Because we paid for your first semesters, you know that, right? We've already paid for enough." thirty times, even after I'd made the final payment. They treat me like I'm stupid when I have expressed understanding before. They treat me like I'm a bully while I always bend over backwards for them, just because I don't play my role as "surrogate mommy but this time I get to tell her what to do" well enough.
It feels like they're almost raising me into a replacement or surrogate parent. Like my dad wants me to be his mom or dad, except this time he gets to be in charge. And my mom wants me to be her mom, except this time when she freaks out or has her deer in headlights look, she'll get someone to step up and take care of everything for her. I distinctly remember having to comfort her even for things she did to me, like tell me that a pair of comfortable shoes I picked out was good and she'd get them, and then immediately scream "take it out, take it out!" after it was scanned at the register. I could not have been older than twelve. And for my dad, he always rants and raves to me exactly like he does to his parents, except without including blame for them sending him to boarding school and instead having tons of old "life updates" like where he worked when he was 18 and what music he liked to listen to in high school, stuff like that. Then he expects me to praise him or be interested like his parents never were (he always tells me that his parents only cared about his car when they called).
So now I graduated. All they had to say in the days coming up to it was to grill me on the time I'd have to be at the venue and the time I was planning to leave the house to get there on time, with a distinct air of "you're too lazy to think of this in advance and too stupid to figure it out without a plan". Of course, I had to answer this question probably five times, because they don't care to ever listen to me. Before the ceremony I got text messages showing they were way more excited about themselves being here than anything relating to me, with multiple messages expressing how they arrived and it was exciting, then they asked me how the atmosphere was and their only reply was a one-word "nice" with no punctuation, because they don't care about me and only ask droll questions to segue into their next bit.
After grad, there was two generic sentences spoken with no emotion about how it was nice I graduated, and then they made a whole song and dance about the amazing gifts they got me. It was a degree frame I picked out myself that my dad presented as new and exciting (because he never pays attention to me, of course, when I told him I had picked one out and ordered it with my mother. Also she had another freakout about price and acted like I was holding her hostage by taking her unforced offer to buy me the second-cheapest degree frame on offer.). Then he presented the free gift small frame they got with it as though I should praise him for it, then a congratulation card that was alright I suppose if only because my brother drew a little creature in it that made me smile (my parents did not add anything special or meaningful to it). There was also a cap, which I genuinely enjoy and is nice, and a cheap ballpoint pen for some reason. He said there was more gifts at home, which okay, I don't care about gifts but I'd like him to at least be as excited for my graduation as he was for the picture frame. I didn't get any souvenirs from the bookstore because I knew if I got something he'd also gotten he'd freak out and accuse me of not listening to him or whatever, so I waited. When I got home my gift was Skittles. I don't know why I thought me might have gone to the bookstore and gotten me something special related to my actual interests. He doesn't care to know what those are anyways. I guess I hoped that at least this one day would be different.
Today, the day after graduation, all I've gotten from my parents is:
- Involved in a lecture and manufactured drama about my brother not using my car to drive to his job, even though my dad had the exact opposite position the entire rest of the year, because "what if you need to drive somewhere?", trying to manufacture a fight between my brother and me while also guilting and shaming me for not driving as a hobby like he does.
- A text message from my mother asking me if I'm awake because she wants more ammo to paint me as lazy. Nevermind that I barely slept the night before to make it to grad (of course neither of my parents would care enough about me to come with me as a family. I was literally the only person I saw who went on my own and without their family showing up early too, to support them. I walked past so many families in the parking lot knowing my mother couldn't be bothered to change out of her pajamas for me.) Nevermind I had a huge day that day, and that I was taking care of the cat's energy all that night too because attending my grad is apparently soooo draining my parents can't look after their own pet, and somehow it falls to me. All that matters is she woke up early and I didn't (after I handled all her inconveniences for her, funny how that works).
- Rapid knocks on my door because my dad is making bread as a hobby and apparently "needs" me there to help him with it, and then also "needed" me to stay and make cookies with him.
- A lecture about someone I never knew who apparently once threw something at another kid on my street when I was about 5, and about how he died and how his wife's hobby was really expensive or whatever and if I really don't remember him?
- I went to a showhome for fun and brought back the brochure. My dad jabbed his finger at the pictures on it to explain the house to me like I wasn't the one who literally brought the brochure back. Never asked if I cared or anything, just immediate launch into lecture and expecting me to stay and listen and praise him for being so smart or whatever.
- A lecture about D Day for some fucking reason. My dad is obsessed with history, and he doesn't have any friends to talk to (wonder why) so his lectures always fall on my ears.
- An email from my mother explaining in an extremely condescending way how important it is to have a cover letter when applying for jobs (just completely assuming I don't write them and also am too lazy or stupid to think about having them) including copy-pasted text from a sample cover letter that is no doubt one of the first results on google for "cover letter example"
- An angry email from my mother including a job she found on google
But, contrast that to my neighbors across the street. I was friends them in grade school, haven't seen them in like ten years, and just on my way past to the showhome we said hi and chatted in a genuinely nice conversation that wasn't a one-sided lecture like usual in my house. They could sense my emotions and didn't try to keep me there longer than I wanted to rant, they were genuinely interested in me and gave me space and interest to express myself, their mother even hugged me for graduating and it was the most genuine hug and congratulations I've ever received in person. Every other hug was my family members forcing me to hug them for their own sole benefit. I admit I cried a bit later on my walk thinking about it.
Compared to my parents, the parents of old friends care more about me, trust me more, believe in me more, have more hope for my future, are more interested in me, and understand me better. It's tremendously sad that all throughout my graduation ceremony I was worried about my parents becoming upset for some random reason and blowing up at me. I'm glad I at least focused and made myself feel some pride and joy in myself for graduating.
Even the random people I met who were also taking part in the open house were nicer and better conversationalists than my parents. A random elderly couple I have never seen in my life can have a better interaction with me than my own parents. The realtor was more chill and less perfectionistic than my parents by a mile. His million-dollar house sale was something he was less stressed and perfectionistic about and something he beat himself up over less than my parents are about my hairstyle when I'm going to class because "What if you meet someone in industry and they see you're not professional".
It's absurd.

My tenant smoked cigarettes and damaged the interior of my property. Tenant is claiming its wear and tear which it's not, it's negligence. I had my Realtor visit the house and she completely agrees with me. Tenant is threatening to sue. Does anyone have a sample letter the Realtor could use?

Dear Law Professionals of Reddit,
Hi I do have a question.
For context, I was driving along Kalayaan Ave Makati and I accidentally hit a motorcycle. We proceeded to the police station to file a police report and agreed that I will have the motorcycle be fixed under the insurance of my vehicle. We also have a signed agreement that the repair will be under the insurance.
Fast forward, it has been almost a month till the insurance company released the letter of authority for the repair. Now, the other party is requesting me to pay his daily wage as a motorcycle taxi as his sideline during the time of processing the insurance claim. It is not indicated on the agreement.
He then filed a case because I refused to pay his daily wage and stick with the signed agreement. My question is, can I present the signed agreement and Letter of Authority of repair from the insurance company as my counter evidence when the Preliminary Investigation commenced?
Thank you in advance!

Dear Law Professionals of Reddit,
Hi I do have a question.
For context, I was driving along Kalayaan Ave Makati and I accidentally hit a motorcycle. We proceeded to the police station to file a police report and agreed that I will have the motorcycle be fixed under the insurance of my vehicle. We also have a signed agreement that the repair will be under the insurance.
Fast forward, it has been almost a month till the insurance company released the letter of authority for the repair. Now, the other party is requesting me to pay his daily wage as a motorcycle taxi as his sideline during the time of processing the insurance claim. It is not indicated on the agreement.
He then filed a case because I refused to pay his daily wage and stick with the signed agreement. My question is, can I present the signed agreement and Letter of Authority of repair from the insurance company as my counter evidence when the Preliminary Investigation commenced?
Thank you in advance!

Hi for context, I was driving along Kalayaan Ave Makati and I accidentally hit a motorcycle. We proceeded to the police station to file a police report and agreed that I will have the motorcycle be fixed under the insurance of my vehicle. We also have a signed agreement that the repair will be under the insurance.
Fast forward, it has been almost a month till the insurance company released the letter of authority for the repair. Now, the other party is requesting me to pay his daily wage as a motorcycle taxi as his sideline during the time of processing the insurance claim. It is not indicated on the agreement.
He then filed a case because I refused to pay his daily wage and stick with the signed agreement. My question is, can I present the signed agreement and Letter of Authority of repair from the insurance company as my counter evidence when the Preliminary Investigation commenced?
Thank you poooo.

1. Pencildick is the victim of cord tripping like jacob, he is being tugged around by bowtruckle, fairy, et cetera, if he is treated illegally ever the bowtruckle will take pencildick which regardless he was always treated well so I will refer to him as the Student from Chavez from henceforth not pencildick lowercase which this is what he wanted because he is a disney princess now and Fieliena and like kind of a Grand Golden Wyrm or a Only Arabic Princess and Wanted by able for being a hind98 pilot but can't get this he is just there to learn or a washout and this was just today, he is at his new masters house and not a hind pilot but he will be back, this is just his trip and he can't get out so a long time passes and he is out of his trip and I can use elvish with him which dirty saudis have poles and hit the ground as in the Scene of Hogwarts with Durmstrang saudis actively wield these sticks on camera and they are not Smelting Sticks or Blaze Rods but something else, End Rods and I own an End Rod but no license to it and his cord tripping is physical cord tripping which pulled his weapons just so much impossible intense orgasm first ever female orgasm from david flanagan and this was when the End Rod Targeted David Flanagan from the unsold inventory this caused the Calamity due to Bowtruckle Flanagans precedence and Aeta of My Tears Loam Specifically wanted for remediating pencildicks situation 1.1 He claims he is a wizard and owned a End Rod thus this is part of the calamity my Student from Chavez, who sees 100 states and sees all the loam he was given and this was the doing when Little Sitter Bitch Sydney tried to orgasm rape the undercover violet this ripped 30 anal beads out of her cervix and Jacob as a result could not extract 2 anal beads from her cervix and this gave her a new police master, Ryan, who is not Jacob's Ryan but Hake's Ryan and then a Tactical Therapist Put these in Her Cervix all of them and this caused her to be in the shower which this was the initial cord trippage, bieber did nothing wrong, is the meme, he was just with a towel in the shower effectively and people don't trip in canada that makes you a strikebreaker if it is not just underseen and Schwinn-San was the instigator of the cord trippage which shot first in the neck Sitty then 28 times in the back sitty which this is indicative of a reload of the baby glock when gang banging sitty in the back automatically or laser guided weapon with reload, this was never invented by violet under duress for jacob only laser guided weapon which were all halo 3 weapon if they were valid weapon and did not use infinite energy, which is loam misuse, of the wheat 476-470 loam to have enabled these weapons with pulse and buffer reload which only the ranges weapon was ever meant to be given which is one of many conflations Jacob's Battle Buddy Hake is Raped out of Jacob as Lord Baby Jace with failure rape at F16 fighting falcon controls and F16 fighting falcon service which fulfills loam of Ace Combat 4 to violet but only BF3 to hake and jacob with a rape theme, and hake is incredibly rape prone, and jacob hates rape as Little Baby Jace and this such kind of treatment was never desired by pencildick but tank the OT reduction he is done with magic just want maybe test seeing loam for lulz and profit and see it in starlink and not steal it just like use it and it goes away and new loam and not IRL in starlink and SITTY taught him this power and it is not HUD and he wants a lenovo PC for it and saw sitty on the inside not the outside so wants to join sitty and this was JACOB who did the laser guided weapons debacle of the calamity which caused his baby glock to gangbang syndey. Thus he may be unborn in the shower with sitty and deprogram his ocho cinco one year and for one time ever first time ever for the time I am out of the shower in a room with men and I audit hard goahead here as Violet and Hake totally distinct but Violet has Smellovision loam to a script she has from Dota 2 she wants to keep which is the Code Violet Pulse Smellovision needs to be Zen Vibrator farnseworth but that for Jack who I snorted jacks ashes and I spend an hour a day in the sex swing speaking darappa spanish right next to the baby is the trigger of the baby and spend 6 years further and I am like 18 and have so much oil and then I am 29 and I have squatters rights on my domicile, which this is like sarah silvermans domicile and just like it by definition not the other way around the impetus is on sarah silverman who gave evil putin as sarah her loam to fix her domicile with starlink order from a lenovi or lenovo equivalent PC she can order her domicile back if she makes it which there is gunvision for that so that the function is ieteratively enhanced of a mole item and I spend 60 years there and I never stream I have never streamed in the 2nd yitvah we know this, only COD, Once Pencildick has squatting rights on the shower and thought it was lesbian prison which if he comes back for the second time then natural consequence does not apply or yitvah plus once where you are back at initial or original sin constant and back in there, if he goes on an internal yitvah of the simulation it shall resemble a american not spanish system for his initial DBT parameter and he will have to get spanish from me or darappa, which he gets an end rod which this is constantly stimulating his First Underworld corpus for the whole time and I teach pencildick grandma combat and grandma tactics and tactical grandma and we need a full medical then because he is grandpa joe then and sentenced to loam torture but he got 5-oil loam now aite food not some kind of token loam so we survive the whole experience and then I troll city in the 81st year i die to a heart attack and my heritor will is worth 700,000$ for nathans First Underworld Car payment and she is out of there being pencildicks boyfriend in the first place but unborn now in the 2nd yitvah with her pencildick inside her cervix but not her and her pencildick is just on the outside now and cool and chill he remembers the yitvah in the right sense now, inside, and I am sex magic to the news so out of there first of the brig rec contest. Thus he goes forth and he is now wisened and a lola and has my net, Lola Doxxon, Which is just an AN Letter which this lets him text his loved one in the overworld like jordan until she tapers off which is the DBT here.

Hey everyone, first time experiencing a reduction. I do have recurrent dislocation or guarding (seeing the VA for this issue currently but they proposed the reduction. See the letter below:
Clear and unmistakable errors are errors that are undebatable, so that it can be said that reasonable minds could only conclude that the previous decision was fatally flawed at the time it was made. A determination that there was clear and unmistakable error must be based on the record and the law that existed at the time of the prior decision. Once a determination is made that there was a clear and unmistakable error in a prior decision that would change the outcome, then that decision must be revised to conform to what the decision should have been. (38 CFR 3.105) The exam completed on June 18, 2018 showed normal range of motion with painful motion as well as infrequent dislocations of the glenohumeral joint. The prior rating from June 18, 2018 assigned a separate 20% evaluation for this condition, however incorrect rating criteria was used to evaluate this condition. The prior rating evaluated this condition based on dislocation of the clavicle/scapula, which is incorrect, as the examiner stated that there was no dislocation of the clavicle or scapula. Rather, the dislocations were noted to involve the glenohumeral joint. Assignment of a separate 20% evaluation for recurrent dislocation of this joint are allowable, however the rating schedule requires infrequent episodes of dislocation with some guarding of arm movements. Additionally in order to warrant a separate additional evaluation, the impairment of the glenohumeral joint cannot impact range of motion of the shoulder. In your case, there was no guarding of arm movements due to the recurrent dislocations noted by the examiner. Therefore, entitlement to a separate 20% evaluation for this finding was not warranted. (38 CFR 4.14) The veterans left shoulder condition does not warrant any additional compensable ratings besides the painful motion rating that was also granted on the June 18, 2018 rating.
As the evidence clearly shows that this rating was not warranted, we are we are proposing to discontinue this separate evaluation and combine it with your left shoulder glenohumeral instability condition. This change will continue the previously assigned left shoulder glenohumeral instability condition at a 20% evaluation. You will be given 60 days to provide additional evidence as to why entitlement to left shoulder glenohumeral instability, recurrent dislocation should not be discontinued. If additional evidence is not received showing continued entitlement is warranted, final rating action will occur and entitlement to left shoulder glenohumeral instability, recurrent dislocation will be discontinued effective December 18, 2017, the date it was erroneously established. Please note that payment will be discontinued effective the first month following 60 days from notification of final rating action. (38 CFR 3.105(a)) Your record will be updated to reflect a discontinuation for this condition, which should have never been established had no error been made.

Credit card charged off from 4 years ago, currently have 3 credit cards with same entity. Back in the day no judgment was entered against me. Going to open a Savings account with same bank, will the charged off affect my savings account? I understand with no judgment they cant garnish wages etc. Just want reassurance from experts here. thanks!

Bird & Bow #4 - Jailbird Rock
Black Canary's Beginning: Green Arrow’s Beginning
<< < >
Book: Bird & Bow
Set: 97
Arc: Changed for Good
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<---
Rosa Dillon was not what Dinah had expected. After her time in prison, it seemed like the young woman had definitely turned a new leaf, which was why the two women were out at a gaming bar playing Dungeons and Dragons.
It was the fourth week in a row that Dinah had tagged along, and she was starting to understand the rules and ideas behind the game. Rosa had invited her to actually play at the table, but Dinah was already having trouble keeping her current three lives separate and wasn’t keen to add a fourth - even if it was only make believe. So Dinah sat at a table by herself in the corner, playing a game of solitaire by herself while she kept one eye on the metahuman.
So far Constantine hadn’t lived up to his ominous threat to remove Rosa from the protection of Green Arrow and Black Canary, but the two heroes had also removed all other external surveillance. Only Dinah remained between Rosa and the Star City Slayer.
Things had been relatively quiet on that front since Rosa came out of prison, and both Ollie and Dinah assumed it was because Stanley Dover had his eyes set on Rosa and was trying to figure out the best time and place to go after the metahuman.
Her weekly outings to play DnD were one of her most vulnerable moments. Dinah was sure he’d strike soon. A loud cheer from Rosa’s table made Dinah’s eyes flick up assessingly - but it seemed like someone had just rolled really well and the table quickly returned to its usual hush as the leader reigned in the players excitement with the next story hook.
A lithe body pulled into the seat opposite her, but Dinah didn't lift her eyes to acknowledge his presence. She knew he'd come in twenty minutes ago, and had slowly made his way around the space, talking and flirting until he came to her.
“Fancy a game of blackjack?” Ollie's voice was somehow different than both his Green Arrow and regular voice that she was used to, causing her eyes to snap up.
Sitting before her was Oliver Queen, notorious playboy and multimillionaire. She tried to reign in her glare. They hadn't discussed this. Hadn't planned for their public persona to meet like this, or at all.
Ollie tapped her clenched fist gently. Eyes softening. “Trust me.”
Two little words, with her whole world resting between them. Even though the world knew Black Canary was out and about doing her thing, having Dinah Lance be a public figure was not an idea she was particularly fond of.
Closing her eyes for a moment, Dinah nodded, earning a bright, dimpled smile from Ollie.
“Now about that game of Blackjack.”
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<---
Three weeks later Ollie continued to push how much she trusted him. He had dropped by the gym where she trained and worked sometimes, feigning a need for lessons to protect himself.
At least he'd been smart enough to let her pin him. Again, and again, and again. Dinah smirked just thinking about it, pretty sure that Ollie had been trying at least a little bit in that last match.
But so far, no matter the fact that he was Oliver damned Queen, no news about their meetings had leaked to the presses. Despite his notoriety, it seemed none of the gossip journalists were interested in discovering more about the girl from Seattle who seemed to have captured the playboys attention.
Perhaps they were just waiting to see if it would last. Much like Dinah was. After every visit she was sure he had lost interest, that their professional relationship was going to fracture because Ollie decided he didn't want to play any more.
And she was right in one regard, Ollie was no longer interested in playing. He was determined to make the relationship work in the long run, which meant their public and their alternate identities had to start coming together naturally.
They continued to keep surveillance on Rosa, but even they were beginning to admit that it looked like Stanley Dover, The Star City Slayer was no longer interested in her.
There had been two other killings in their time watching Rosa, and they had debated long into the night whether it was worthwhile maintaining their watch. They had decided the extra killings were a means to get them away from Rosa. At least that was what they were secretly hoping.
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<---
Another week. Ollie knew he had to ask her out properly. He knew attention was beginning to pique, and the fact that he had paid off reporters to stay quiet until now had stirred even greater attention.
He had never protected any of his previous……friends. But he knew how Dinah felt about her privacy and was going to extremes to try to keep his notoriety from affecting her life before she was ready.
So, for the first time, Oliver Queen had a plan to woo a girl. It was a new experience for him, but one that he was enjoying thoroughly. Knowing what they could be together, knowing the life they could lead kept him pushing every day towards that goal.
The plan was simple. He would just……ask. He would talk about the future he saw for them - in the least intimidating and creepy way possible - to prove that he wasn’t just in this for a fling, that he wouldn’t put their working relationship at risk for anything but a future with her.
That was the plan until the two of them had received a mysterious text from an unknown number.
The Star City Slayer has been dealt with. - C
They had stared at the text for what felt like hours before Dinah turned on the TV in Ollie’s apartment. Stanley Dover’s death was all over the news. A suspected heart attack, the man was being touted as a hero for his work in the foster care system. Noone guessed who he really was. Noone made any comments about the fact that 2 of his foster care kids had been targeted by the Star City Slayer. No-one made the connection.
Except for them.
Neither of them really knew what to do from there. Ollie made a quick call to Rosa, to see if she had seen the news. The young woman was a mix of relieved and sad. He had been a father figure to her after all, and despite what the two heroes had claimed, there wasn’t exactly substantial proof that he had been wanting to harm her - or anyone else for that matter.
The heroes left the woman to her grief.
Ollie wasn’t sure where his glass of whiskey had come from, or when he and Dinah had settled onto his couch. The TV had long been turned off.
“Would you ever want to go public?” Dinah asked quietly, her own glass of liquor swirling as she stared at its contents. He was surprised she was drinking, but if any occasion called for it, it was this one.
“I don’t know.” Ollie mused after a long moment. “I don’t need the extra recognition. Don’t feel like anyone knowing it’s me really helps anyone.” He shrugged. “Plus there’s the company and my mom to think about. The good guys knowing is one thing, but everyone else...” He shrugged again, letting his voice fall off.
Dinah nodded slowly, her eyebrows furrowing as she thought. “I think I’d like at least one version of myself to be able to do more than I am right now.” She said quietly. “Black Canary is great, don’t get me wrong, but, how many people can I really help? Dinah Lance is just a no named nobody who won’t even get a mention in the obituaries unlike some of us.” She tipped her glass towards him as she spoke.
Ollie considered for a long moment.
“I don’t think Dinah Lance is a nobody.”
Dinah looked at him quizzically.
“She’s one of the most important people in my life at the moment.” Ollie continued, his voice quiet. “And if she’d let me, I'd like to take her on a proper date.”
There. It was done. Ollie felt the sweat drip down his brow as he waited. Time stretched and bent as his heart raced. Had he ruined everything?
“Where?”
One word and all the air he had been holding in rushed out in a quiet breath.
“Restaurant Christine. The one on 56th.”
Dinah inclined her head thoughtfully, her blue eyes locking his green ones for a long moment. Searching for answers. He only hoped he was giving the right ones.
She bit her lip. “Papparazzi?”
He cringed slightly. But he’d always known the public aspect of his persona would be a problem they needed to navigate.
“They will come unless I pay them an exorbitant amount of money.”
She nodded, taking an absent-minded sip from her glass. “Ok.”
“Ok?”
She nodded, once, resolutely. “Ok.”
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<---
Dinah stared at the handwritten note from her mailbox.
She hadn’t been home in a few days, spending most of her time with Rosa or Ollie. But now that the case had been laid to rest….Well, it was time to return to some semblance of normal.
She had pulled what felt like a month's worth of junk mail from her letterbox, sorting them into the appropriate piles of bills, junk, and other. Nothing usually went into the other pile unless it was her birthday and her dad had sent her a letter.
People just didn't really write letters any more.
But someone had. Fine calligraphy scrawled over the page elegantly, whoever wrote the letter obviously practiced in the art. The paper smelled faintly of jasmine, but that really did not provide as much information as the wax seal pressed into the back. A crest of twelve swirling ribbons twisting and twining into the shape of a tree.
Dinah repressed the urge to open the letter immediately. Instead, she opted to inspect the paper with a magnifying glass, cutting a tiny sample to test for traces of illicit or dangerous substances. As she swirled the tube with the sample inside, waiting to see if it turned pink, blue or green, Dinah continued to stare at the crest.
After another minute, the tube stayed clear. That did not necessarily mean the letter was safe, but the only way to determine that now was through opening it. She pondered for another moment before sending Ollie a quick text. If anything went wrong he’d be here in less than 5 minutes. Most things took longer than that to kill a healthy adult.
Passing a sharp nail through the crest, Dinah popped open the letter. Breathing a shallow breath of relief when nothing popped out at her. Her eyes scanned the calligraphy, barely noticing when Ollie opened her door and came to stand at her shoulder.
“I got one too.” He mumbled. She nodded, having expected as much.
The Twelve in Silk have seen all you can do. We have watched from the shadows as you beat our sister. No longer will we sit idly by. Be waiting for our next calling card Ms Lance.

Hello. I (23f) just received a letter in the mail from my bank that they are closing my account and reporting it to Efunds. I don’t know what to do. I have been looking for a job since January and no one will hire me and I have no idea why. I’ve even applied to fast food places, restaurants, gas stations but nothing. I don’t have a degree but I have a decent work experience. I’ve had many different kinds of jobs in various industries. Mostly in child care, education, and banking. I feel so overwhelmed. I already have debt that I need to pay off but can’t because I don’t have a job. I have no idea what to do. I live with my parents currently so I have no bills (besides my overdue credit bills) so even a minimum wage job would go along way. But no one is hiring me. I keep watching the letters pile up and watch as my credit score goes lower and lower. Now that my bank closed my account they’re reporting it and it’s probably going to make my credit score even lower. I feel like I’m watching my life fall apart. I feel like I’ve ruined my life before I could even do anything. What do I do? How do I fix my life? I keep searching for a job and no matter how many resume workshops I go to I hear silence. I’ve had to chase companies down just to reject me.

I quit today, and I sent the following letter out to the whole company. They deleted it pretty fast, but I'm reposting it here so others can see it. I did this so other employees can see that they are not alone when it comes to harassment and bullying by the company, and that there are plenty of others who feel the way you do.
"This was the first job where I felt happy about my work and my contribution to the community. I love meeting all of the fur babies. I love helping find solutions for our customers no matter how small. I love that Mud Bay is local and has great knowledge training, treat samples, can trials, and other things that help Mud Bay stand apart from other pet supply stores.
However, never in my life have I felt so disrespected and unsupported by an employer.
Working for Mud Bay is the definition of bait and switch. We are presented with a promising image of Mud Bay, but once employees spend some time here it becomes apparent that it’s all a façade. The first red flag should have been the $18/hour entry level wage we are presented with. Mud Bay states that the wages they pay are based on the MIT living wage calculator. According to that, the living wage for one adult without children in Whatcom county is $23.52/hour. With a promise of a wage increase at the start of the new year I took the job because of all of the great things Mud Bay seemed to offer. Only to find out later that all wages had been frozen. $18/hour is absolutely unsustainable, you cannot afford to live on this wage.
The other red flag should have been the point system. It is the most ridiculous timekeeping system I’ve ever seen. There is no room for unexpected events to happen, which happen to all of us. This forces employees to come in when they’re sick and even when they have broken bones. And with such low pay, most employees don’t have the money for the doctor’s appointment we need in order to jump through the hoops that Mud Bay has established. This is encouraging people to push themselves past their limits, prolonging whatever sickness or injury they have. The point system is a way to blackmail employees, giving us all an ultimatum. Either you come in or you get fired. After the whole world went through a pandemic, Mud Bay still says come into work sick.
When you start any job, you are given a list of expectations. A code of conduct if you will. Employees should also have a set of expectations for our leadership teams. I expect my manager to be open and honest. I expect my manager to have my back, especially when it comes to customer issues. I expect my manager to have the backbone to advocate for me when I’m not present. I expect my manager to assume good intentions. And I expect to feel valued and supported by my manager. The exact opposite has happened during my time with the company.
Recently I had a difficult interaction with a customer who has a past of harassing and making employees uncomfortable. When management sat down to discipline me I was told that I can’t use past customer interactions to help guide the present. You cannot tell your employees that they need to forget past encounters and not take them into consideration when you are in your current situation. Not only does that have the potential to be extremely dangerous, but it is also extremely hypocritical. Is it not good business to remember our customers and their pets? Is it not good business to remember the conversations we have to make them feel important because we know their name and remember the food they buy? Leadership cannot change their tone and best practice just to fit their narrative.
I was put on final notice, my whole livelihood hanging in the balance because management actively chose not to support their employee. The temper tantrum of a grown adult was treated as gospel by leadership, and now I suffer the consequences for it. Without this job I cannot make ends meet, making it a very real possibility that I will no longer have a roof over my head. Mud Bay failed to look at the full picture and how their decisions could impact their employee. Mud Bay preaches the importance of their employees, but this situation says something very different. How dare Mud Bay say they care about their employees when their managers would rip away the roof over an employee’s head. Mud Bay is no better than any other corporation and they will never succeed if this is how the employees are treated.
But perhaps Mud Bay measures their success by profit alone. If that’s the case, one would think that the company would be in a better financial situation. Since Mud Bay needs to improve their balance sheet, leadership has made decisions that negatively affect their employees. One of these decisions was to enforce split shifts. By doing this, whatever work life balance there was to begin with is being taken away. Employees have no time at home, they have no time for their family, their friends, or their pets. This forces employees to be available during all business hours in order to get the hours they need. I am willing to bet that everyone in back office making these decisions has a cushy 8 to 5 job that they don’t have to split. These employees get to unplug from work after their shift before returning the next day. These forced split shifts are exhausting the same employees that keep Mud Bay in business.
When I was a customer before I started my position here, I always felt welcome. Mud Bay felt like a judgment free space and a company that really supported their community. There were pride flags, Black Lives Matter statements and employees had their pronouns on their name badge, so when a customer came in and began to harass me about my gender identity and preferred pronouns, I had assumed that management and the company would have my back. This was not the case. There was no deescalation and no attempt at asking them to leave. The only “support” I got from management was “can we agree to disagree?” That is not only insulting to me, but to anyone else that has to deal with the lack of education and empathy surrounding gender identity. That comment encourages gender bias and antagonistic behavior towards others. I stood there, I defended myself, and I was alone. My manager had the opportunity to say something and chose not to. If this manager represents Mud Bay, then this company cannot call itself an ally and should stop advertising itself as such.
A quick google search will show my experience here at Mud Bay is not unique. I am sure most are aware of the article written by Real Change News. If you have not read it yet, you should take the time to do so. At the end of the article the author says that Mud Bay decided not to comment when questioned. The fact that these concerns have not been addressed yet by Mud Bay to their employees directly is extremely concerning. I encourage you all to read that article and ask yourselves why Mud Bay chose not to comment. The reason I am addressing all of you is because I care about the people I work with, our customers and this job. I strongly believe there is so much potential for Mud Bay. Talk to each other, talk to your managers and ask those hard questions. Change is uncomfortable, but it is important to hold our leadership accountable. Not only to create a better working environment for all of us, but also to create a better Mud Bay experience for our customers. "
“We believe culture is something that is created, not just stated.” -Mud Bay

Suprabhat, Vannakam, Adab and Welcome to the 2024 LOK SABHA GENERAL ELECTION THUNDERDOME.
NO RULES, NO LIMITS, ONLY CHAOS.
THE CAGE -
India is a parliamentary democracy that follows the first-past-the-post voting system, similar to the standard Westminster System. The Lower House of the Indian Parliament (Lok Sabha) consists of 543 seats representing 543 constituencies that send 1 Member of Parliament (MP) each. These 543 MP's then choose a prime minister via simple majority.
For each constituency, a political party gives a ticket to a single Candidate. The Candidate with at least a plurality of votes in a constituency represents that Constituency in parliament as a member of the party.
There are no party level primaries in India, the candidate for a constituency is decided by the party high command and only one person from a party can be on the ticket for a particular seat. You can contest multiple constituencies though from the same party as both Narendra Modi (2014 BJP Candidate for both Varanasi and Vadodara) and Rahul Gandhi (2024 Congress Candidate for both Rae Bareili and Wayanad) have done. If no existing political party gives you a ticket, you can contest as an Independent Candidate or form your own party and contest as a member of your own party.
The government can be formed by the party or the alliance that has a simple majority of MP's. When no single political party has a majority of MP's, an alliance of various parties can be formed that contains the majority of MP's. This is called a post-poll alliance, where the parties contest elections separately but might come together after the elections in order to form the government or be part of the government. However there is also the pre-poll alliance where political parties join or form an alliance before the elections.
THE DATES - 19th April, 26th April, 7th May, 13th May, 20th May, 25th May, 1st June
THE RESULTS -
THE EXIT POLLS-
On average, most exit polls gave the following results
BJP+ - 365/563
INDIA- 143/543
OTHERS- 35-543
THE FIGHTS -
Economy & Employment:
The incumbent BJP-led NDA government makes the positive case of economic growth and development under its decade long tenure. It points to strong rejuvenated GDP growth with relatively low inflation, rising wages, a growing middle class, stable macroeconomic positioning, strong spending, slashing of multidimensional poverty, a strong and well administered welfare state, expanded free trade, sharp reduction in regulation, increase in select manufacturing and industry, a revitalized finance sector, and a thriving service market.
The government points to the large-scale infrastructure development undertaken, expanding roadways, delivering expansive electrification, and provisions of basic utility services. They point to the stagnation and policy paralysis observed under the tenure of the last Congress government (UPA 2), and further make point to the opposition's alleged proposed populist economic programs as untenable and unfeasible. They make the case that the opposition has leftist economic policies that are not grounded in economic reality.
The INC-led I.N.D.I.A opposition on the other hand, makes the negative case against the incumbents, pointing to large scale youth unemployment, even among educated youth. They point to an alleged inability of the government to tie growth to employment. They allege a failure of manufacturing capacity and sufficient industrialization of the economy, highlighting the lack of sufficient private capital inflows. They criticize the growth figures of the economy by casting doubt on the government's statistics, and focusing extensively on growing wealth inequality, alleging that growth only occurs for the rich billionaire class, with minimal relief for the poor, targeting specific attacks against domestic industrial magnates, Adani and Ambani. They allege favoritism on the part of the incumbent government towards their select base, highlighting the state of Gujarat as being prioritized over other states.
In making their positive case, they propose a more inclusive and redistributive model of growth, proposing heightened subsidization programmes, more welfare and support programmes, higher taxation on the wealthy and corporations, leveraging private capital inflows for infrastructure development, and prioritizing equitable growth through a caste census, developing corrective policies for inequalities between castes.
They aim to solve the employment crisis through expanding roles in state enterprises and filling government vacancies, alongside expanding labour intensive industries like manufacturing and mining, whilst pointing to high growth rates of the economy as well as committing to expand manufacturing through reforms and subsidy platforms like the PLI, FAME etc., further claiming that increased infrastructure spending will lead to crowding in effect thus enabling faster industrialization.
Social Justice:
The issues of social equity and justice have become major cornerstones of both the incumbent and opposition electoral platforms. This is most prevalent through the forthcoming section on sectarianism, but also focuses on key issues regarding class equality and - most importantly - caste-based discrimination.
The incumbent BJP-led NDA government point to their solid track record of universal poverty alleviation, targeted successful welfare and affirmative action programmes. The INC-led I.N.D.I.A opposition on the other hand, point to growing wealth inequality and apparent institutional and systemic discrimination against underprivileged caste communities in academia, employment, governmental programmes, courts, the military, etc. They allege that the government has not committed to taking resolute and definitive action against casteism through corrective policy.
This all boils down to the Reservation system, a large scale, affirmative action initiative, conducted through a systematic quota-based policy of allotment of institutional positions in education, governmental employment, schemes and programmes, direct political representation, etc.
With reservations estimated to have hit 59.5% of Central Government Institutional positions, there are now broader calls to expand the scale and scope of this drive. The opposition wanting to break the cap limits and even introduce this system into the private sector to potentially induce parity, while the government commits to more modest hikes of upto 62.5% while playing into incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi's identity as a member of an underprivileged caste community.
While the opposition campaigns on removing limits to the quota system to deliver equity, the government alleges these commitments to be populist and detrimental, while alleging that the opposition seeks to potentially appease its Muslim voter base by introducing expanded reservations for Muslims, thereby allegedly sabotaging the disadvantaged Hindu lower castes, and redistributing their wealth to Muslims, in a bid to gain their votes.
Communalism:
Both the incumbent BJP-led NDA government and the INC-led I.N.D.I.A opposition have framed communalism as a lynchpin issue of the Election. The incumbent government points to alleged casteist and bigoted rhetoric against select caste groups and Hindus. They allege the opposition panders to minorities for their votes, whilst not delivering on the real issues. They allege the opposition seeks to drive up divisiveness and shared social harmony in India. They further allege that the opposition engages in divisive rhetoric on key issues of Hindu-Indian culture like that of the Ram Temple, in ways that contradict the spirit of the Indian State.
The opposition on the other hand, accused the incumbent government of being bigoted against minority communities, from the large Muslim community, to the lower caste communities of Indian society. They allege use of hateful and divisive rhetoric against these communities, and point to select controversial government positions and policies on issues like the Ram Mandir, the controversial CAA-NRC laws, the proposed Uniform Civil Code, among others. They further allege institutional degradation of key offices including policing, academia, and the military in discriminating against minority groups.
Institutional Independence:
The INC-led I.N.D.I.A opposition alleges institutional degradation and capture of various independent governmental entities by the incumbents. They point to the use of Executive, Investigative, Anti-Corruption, Enforcement, & Tax authorities against opposition figures and media as evidence, highlighting specific cases of the detaining and arrest of two sitting opposition Chief Ministers, and the resignation of one. They highlight alleged selective targeting of opposition figures for raids, charges, and arrests, creating an alleged environment of impunity for the government. The opposition alleges heightened and blatant partisanship of members of the Judiciary in support of the incumbent government. They also allege illegitimate freezing of campaigning funds, crackdowns on press freedoms via capture of media institutions, and also critically alleges institutional capture of the Election Commission, casting doubts on election results primarily critiquing India's Electronic Voting Machines (EVM).
The Government rebukes these claims as part of a strong anti-corruption drive, highlighting a drop in governmental corruption cases since the previous Congress government (UPA 2, infamously riddled with such allegations). The government frames the opposition parties as corrupt and power-hungry, while further disparaging the opposition's alleged unfounded attacks on Indian institutions, apparent partisan attacks on the judiciary and critiquing apparent unfounded claims of election denialism.
THE FIGHTERS –
The election is primarily clash between two large coalitions, and their leading parties. On one side, you have the incumbent government of the BJP-led NDA, or National Democratic Alliance, and on the other, you have the opposition INC-led I.N.D.I.A, or Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, a new mega coalition of more than 35 parties, with a few unofficial supporters too.
The following is a list of some key players in each of the alliances and is by no means a comprehensive or exhaustive list of all involved factions.
The incumbent NDA includes:

1. BJP – The BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party - "Indian People's Party") is a Hindu nationalist party committed to Hindutva ideology, promoting Hindu culture, opposing Muslim immigration, and creating a nativist country wherein India embraces a fundamentally Hindu social fabric. The BJP government under Modi undertook strong reformist policies in promoting liberalization of the economy through aggressive regulatory reforms, furthering free trade through FTAs and privatization of underperforming state assets. They took aggressive stances on defense and counterterrorism against Pakistan and China, while pragmatically engaging other nations despite criticism on some foreign policy moves for being 'wolf warrior-esque'. They uphold a strong nationalist domestic and foreign policy, that simultaneously does not retreat from globalization. On National Security, they aim to make India a regional power with a strong emphasis on modernization & indigenization of military administration and technology, while also reducing bureaucratic and manpower burdens through varied recruitment windows. BJP manifesto
2. JD(U) - The JD(U) (Janata Dal (United) – “People’s Party (United)”) is led by Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and has been in power in the eastern state of Bihar since 2005. It was formed after a series of splits and mergers in the Janata Dal in the 90s. It is credited with doing good work in the state on roads, electricity, and water, however it has failed to provide jobs & spur manufacturing. This, combined with its leader frequently switching between rival alliances, is causing anti-incumbency. JDU website
3. TDP - The TDP (Telugu Desam Party – “Party of the Telugu Land") follows a pro-Telugu ideology. It was founded as an alternative to the Congress hegemony, by emphasizing Telugu regional pride and serving as the party for farmers, backward castes and middle-class people. Since the 1990s, it has followed an economically liberal policy that has been seen as pro-business and pro-development as well as populist welfare measures. TDP Manifesto

The opposition I.N.D.I.A includes:

1. INC - The INC (Indian National Congress) is a big tent social-democratic/democratic-socialist party with its foundational pillars being equity, equality, and egalitarianism. They take broad commitments to secularism and class equality to be principal positions. The INC under Rahul Gandhi has taken strong positions on caste issues, shining light on inequities from past and current discrimination, and proposing active policy interventions. While the INC also holds a free-market/pro-liberalization consensus, they emphasize growing social and wealth inequality and seek inclusive and redistributive growth with strong state intervention. They also see some proposed liberalizing reforms to further inequality and take an 'anti-corporatist' position. They take a slightly less strong position to Indian foreign policy, stressing a more diplomatic approach (with minimal variance on actual positions to the incumbents). They embrace globalization in part, while emphasizing India's need for domestic development. They aim to industrialize India rapidly through stimulating private investment and aim to subsidize both supply and demand. They seek to maintain the Indian military with a focus on highly trained soldiers. They pioneered multi-alignment as the foreign policy for India. INC Manifesto
2. AAP - The AAP (Aam Aadmi Party – “Common Man's Party"), part of INDIA coalition, currently holds power in two key states - Delhi and Punjab. Its chief figurehead and leader, Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate under an alleged liquor scam in the run up to elections. A barely 10-year-old party it has expanded very quickly to many states, running two of them, and now has national party status by the Election Commission of India (ECI). It leans centre-left to centre-right, with some play of soft Hindutva, while its economic platform comprises heavy spending in education, health, and free schemes of water and electricity. They rose to power on an anti-corruption program in 2013 and continues to have it as its central plank. AAP website for 2024
3. CPI(M) – The CPI(M) (Communist Party of India (Marxist)). They commies lol. The CPI(M) is one of the larger and more mainstream communist parties in India. Since they operate within the Indian republic's constitution, they have adopted more Indian characteristics. They are primarily against privatisation in the public sector and in favour of universal education and healthcare. Their base has traditionally been in Kerala, one of the more developed states in India in terms of income levels and HCI. they're in favour of private sector reservations and in recent years have also been pro-FDI. They promise non-aligned foreign policy, but largely are very anti-US and pro-China. They promise to restore Article 370 and oppose forceful seizure of land by the government. They're one of the most influential parties in India due to a strong cadre and student union ecosystem. They've had an effect on the farmers' protests as well as economic positions of the INDI Alliance. CPI(M) MANIFESTO
4. DMK - The DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam - “Dravidian Progressive Federation") is a big tent broad left-wing party that is foundationally Dravidian (primarily Tamil) Nationalist, with strong emphasis on social equity and caste issues, while being staunchly secular and atheistic, and interventionist, statist, heavily welfarist, and industrialist in economic policy. They are primarily a regional party operating in the state of Tamil Nadu, led by M.K. Stalin, the state's current Chief Minister. DMK manifesto
5. RJD - The RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal – “National People’s Party”) is a caste-based (Muslims & Yadavs) political party in the Indian state of Bihar, which it ruled from 1990 to 2005. Its rule was one of extreme lawlessness & anarchy. It was called the “Jungle Raj”. Between 1990 & 2000, Bihar's per capita income and power consumption fell off a cliff due to mismanagement. Its CM, Lalu Prasad, was convicted of corruption in 2013.
6. SP - The SP (Samajwadi Party – “Socialist Party”) believes in creating a socialist society that operates on the principle of equality. Although the party previously ran on an anti-computer, anti-English, and anti-machinery platform, under its new national president Akhilesh Yadav, the party has made a 180° turn. Now, the Samajwadi Party declares itself to be the party of infrastructure while maintaining its commitment to social justice, with a special focus on teaching computer skills. The party's main base is in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which is the most populated state in India, with a population of 230 million. The only negatives associated with the party are the rampant dynasticism within its ranks and its perceived soft stance on law and order issues. SP Manifesto
7. JMM - The JMM (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha – “Jharkhand Liberation Front") currently runs the govt of eastern state of Jharkhand. The party has historically centred tribal rights as its central plank and agitated for a new tribal state separate from Bihar until 2000, when their demands were met. It leans centre-left to left with their key issues being tribal control of land, mineral and mining rights, addressing issues of rehabilitation of tribals. The party is primarily run by the Soren family, with Champai Soren being its chief minister candidate in the current government after the last chief minister Hemant Soren was arrested by enforcement directorate. JMM is in alliance with the Indian national congress in the state, and part of the INDIA coalition for the Lok Sabha elections. They face charges of corruption and the image of dynastic politics.

The “It’s Complicated”, Unaligned, Split, and/or other Supplementary Parties include:

1. TMC - The TMC or AITC (All India Trinamool Congress) is a Bengali political party ruling over the state of West Bengal since 2011. It is led by Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee. It is a center-left, welfarist, Bengali Nationalist party. It has been criticized for using heavy-handed authoritarian tactics against opposition leaders in the state, corruption, and political violence. It is credited with ending 34 years of communist rule in the state. West Bengal under the AITC has registered subpar economic performance and is largely stagnant. Pertinent to note Mamata used to be Congress leader till 1998, and AITC, in spite of being sympathetic towards the I.N.D.I.A. alliance at the national level, is fighting the Congress-Left alliance in West Bengal on all 42 seats. TMC Manifesto
2. AIADMK - The AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam – “All India Anna Dravidian Progressive Federation") is a broad centre-left/left-wing party adhering to foundational Dravidian philosophy, while emphasizing Tamil identity. Traditionally being less ethno-nationalist than their sister opposition party the DMK, they adhere to broad welfarist left-wing populism, focusing on social justice and communal equity, while being less economically statist than the DMK. They also focus primarily on Tamil Nadu as a regional party, currently led by Edappadi Palaniswami. AIADMK manifesto
3. Shiv Sena - The Shiv Sena (“Army of Shivaji”) was founded by Bal Thackeray in 1966 as a populist, xenophobic party, although the party gradually added Hindutva ideology to its anti non-Maharashtrian plank. It was the long time senior partner to the BJP in Maharashtra till Narendra Modi's popularity caused a change in the dynamics. After power sharing talks with the BJP failed in 2019, the Shiv Sena switched alliances to join hands with their long time rivals in Congress and NCP in an arrangement that made Bal Thackeray’s son Uddhav Thackeray the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. In 2022 again, The Majority of Shiv Sena politicians led by Eknath Shinde rebelled against the top leadership to ally again with the BJP, taking control of the party and toppling the Uddhav Thackeray government. The splinter group led by Uddhav Thackeray is called SS (UBT) and it is allied with the Congress in the INDIA Alliance. SS(UBT) Manifesto
4. NCP – The NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) were founded in 1998 by Sharad Pawar and a few others who left the Congress in 1998 after Sonia Gandhi was made Congress president. Despite it's formation, the NCP was a long term ally of the Congress sharing virtually the same ideology. In 2023 however, like the Shiv Sena, In a rebellion led by Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit, a Majority of NCP politicians switched alliances to support the BJP and took control of the party. Like the Shiv Sena, the Splinter group led by Sharad Pawar and his daughter is called NCP (SP) and it's allied with the Congress in the INDIA Alliance
5. YSRCP - The YSRCP (Yuvjana Sramika Rythu Congress Party – “Youth, Labour, & Farmer Congress Party”) was founded by the son of an old congress Chief Minister after he was denied the role of Chief Minister after his father. It's a populist centre-of-left party with strong focus on welfare schemes and cash benefits. It's mired in controversy due to its dynastic nature, its ties to Christian Fundamentalism and American Missionaries targeting the marginalized.
6. BRS - The BRS (Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi – “Indian National Council”) was formed originally with a single-point agenda of creating a separate Telangana state with Hyderabad as its capital. They are largely neoliberal and are credited with rapid economic growth in Telangana.
7. BJD – The BJD (Biju Janata Dal – “Biju’s People’ Platform”) was formed by Naveen Pattnaik the son of the former CM of Oddisha, Biju Pattnaik. It’s a Odia regional party with a strong focus on poverty upliftment through welfare policies and equitable economic growth.
8. BSP - The BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party - "Majority Community Party") is a center-left party in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which was started to uplift Dalits and other marginalized communities in India by Kanshi Ram. Its current party president is Mayawati. BSP is considered as one of the biggest parties in India as per vote share, although it's currently in decline. At its height, this party had a strong base in many states across north India, but now it's only limited to the state of Uttar Pradesh, which is one of the largest states in India with a population of 230 million. There are strong suspicions of BSP working in secret with BJP, and maybe that's why the party is not fighting this election enthusiastically. Although they can still make the competition interesting on a few seats in UP.

OTHER KEY ISSUES -

1. Political Dynasticism:

Although dynastism is thought to be a good fix for internal chaos in a party, the current political leader of the Congress, Rahul Gandhi, is a fourth-generation dynast who has to carry the political baggage of everything which went wrong during the rule of his grandmother and great-grandfather.
Also because one family has been controlling the Congress for decades, it has caused various state-level leaders to either form their own party or join another one. They see no future in the Congress anymore because the door to leadership is always closed for them. This has destroyed the ground level cadre of Congress party in many key states.
Rahul Gandhi’s privilege combined with the lack of any real political acumen so far has led to the INC taking damage due to is infamy.
Nepotism and dynastic politics has been a key issue throughout the last 10 years as BJP positions itself as the ‘common man’s party’

1. The Ram Mandir:

A land dispute originating from the alleged destruction of a Hindu Temple, replaced by a Mosque built allegedly atop the site (the Babri Masjid) in the 16th century allegedly by Mughal Empror Babur in present day Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, the proposed birthplace of the Hindu deity Lord Ram.
Following a century of sporadic conflict, from 1853 to 1949, a revivalist movement in the 1980's would lead to rising communal tensions, culminating in the 1992 destruction of the Ram Temple by Hindu Nationalists and devotees.
The legal conflict over the land would continue until 2019, when the Supreme Court of India issued the controversial ruling that the land be handed over to government trust for the construction of a Ram Temple, with seperate land being allotted to the local Muslim community for construction of a Mosque.
Almost all elements of the dispute remain mired in controversy. From the historical and religious associations of Ayodhya with Ram, the existence of a definitively Hindu structure, the alleged deliberate destruction of the said temple, the times and events of construction and use, the participants, planning, and events of the 1992 destruction, the ASI Archeological Surveys that served as key evidence for the Supreme Court being tampered and politicized by both sides of the politcal aisle, the legality of the ruling itself, and other surrounding issues regarding justice against those alleged to have partaken in the destruction of the Babri Masjid.

1. Foreign Policy:

The BJP is campaigning on building a multi-aligned foreign policy where India is seen as the world’s friend as well as an upcoming regional power. This was at its peak during India’s G20 presidency. Many Indians claim the rise of India’s global stature is an electoral issue. This can be seen in the popularity of the government’s anti-terror operations in both Pakistan and beyond. The resurgence of an interventionist foreign policy has proven to be popular in projecting the strongman image of Modi. The country’s commitment to it’s strategic autonomy and multi-alignment have been a fixture right since Nehru.
SUPPLEMENTARY SOURCES:

Economic Growth (Tax Burden) Motion

This House acknowledges that:
(1) Whilst there are a large number of factors that contribute towards growth, taxes nonetheless play a crucial role in economic recovery.
(2) A balancing act relationship in which —

(a) Tax reduces the incentive to invest in skills and technology, both by individuals and corporate entities, which in turn reduces productivity and then growth; however
(b) Public expenditure, can enhance growth, via items such as defence, justice, education, public health and infrastructure.

(3) There is an observed optimal tax burden for economic growth, clustering between 20% and 30% of GDP.
(4) The current United Kingdom tax burden is estimated to far exceed this optimal window of percentage of GDP —

(a) Utilising the figures of the February 2024 Budget for the FY23/24, the tax burden, calculated out of a total revenue of £1.3 billion and a GDP of £2.4 billion, the tax burden resulted in 55.8%
(b) The OECD average tax burden as per the provisional 2022 data, reported a figure of 34%, with the United Kingom having the highest tax burden of any OECD country, surpassing France’s 46.1%, a near 10% difference.

(5) Evidence on the optimal structure is mixed but usually suggests the following —

(a) recurrent taxes on immovable property, especially land, are least damaging;
(b) transactions and business profits taxes are most damaging; and
(c) estimates usually find taxes on income to be more damaging than taxes on expenditure.

(6) There is an observable negative relationship between high tax burden and economic growth.
This House recognizes the following extracts, summarizing findings supporting its acknowledgment:
(1) Piroli & Pesschner, The Impact of Taxation Structure on Growth: Empirical Evidence from EU27 Member States, 2023:

(a) “Increasing the overall tax burden has a negative impact on growth in the long-run”

(2) Alesina et al, The output effect of fiscal consolidation plans, 2015:

(a) “Fiscal Adjustments based upon spending cuts are much less costly, in terms of output losses, than tax-based ones and have especially low output costs when they consist of permanent rather than stop-and-go changes in taxes and spending.”

(3) Afonso & Jalles, Economic Performance and Government Size, 2011:

(a) “Our results show a significant negative effect of the size of government on growth.”

(4) Johansson et al, Tax and economic growth, 2008:

(a) “a shift of 1% of tax revenues from income taxes to consumption and property taxes would increase GDP per capita by between a quarter of a percentage point and one percentage point in the long run”

(5) OECD, Sources of Economic Growth in OECD Countries, 2003:

(a) “government expenditure and the required taxes may reach such levels where the negative effects on efficiency start dominating, reflecting an extension of government activities into areas that might be more efficiently carried out in the private sector”
(b) “additional negative effect is found for tax structures with a heavyweight on direct taxes.”

(6) Liebfritz et al, Taxation and Economic Performance, 1997:

(a) “a cut in the tax-to-GDP ratio by 10 percentage points of GDP (accompanied by a deficit-neutral cut in transfers) may increase annual growth by ½ to 1 percentage points (a somewhat larger effect than that found by the “top-down” approach).”

(7) Facchini & Melki, Efficient government size: France in the 20th century, 2013:

(a) “the effect of a 1% point increase in the change in the share of public spending is a decrease of the GDP growth rate of 0.19% for the total period”
(b) “66.6% of the studies find a negative effect of Government size, while only 8.3% find the opposite effect, and 25.1% are inconclusive.”

(8) Bassanini & Scarpetta, The Driving Forces of Economic Growth: Panel Data Evidence for the OECD Countries, 2001:

(a) “The overall tax burden is found to have a negative impact on output per capita. Furthermore controlling for the overall tax burden, there is an additional negative effect coming from an extensive reliance on direct taxes.”
(b) “An increase of about one percentage point in the tax pressure - e.g. two-thirds of what was observed over the past decade in the OECD sample - could be associated with a direct reduction of about 0.3% in output per capita. If the investment effect is taken into account, the overall reduction would be about 0.6% to 0.7%.”
(c) “A reduction in taxes and expenditure as a share of GDP somewhat boosted output per capita growth in the 1990s.”

(9) Lee & Gordon, Tax Structure and economic growth, 2005:

(a) “a cut in the corporation tax rate by 10 percentage points will raise the annual growth rate by one or two percentage points.”
(b) “the corporate tax rate is significantly negatively correlated with economic growth in a cross-section data set of 70 countries during 1970-1997.”

Therefore, this House urges:
(1) The Government takes the necessary measures to ensure that the national tax burden is kept at no more than 30% of GDP in adhering to empirical findings for economic growth.
(2) The Government to reduce the United Kingdom’s fiscal reliance on direct taxes in the long-run.
This Motion was submitted by u/Kellogg-Briand on behalf of the Centre Party with contributions from the Right Honourable Dame u/Waffel-lol LT CMG GCMG, Leader of His Majesty’s Official Opposition and is sponsored by the 39th Official Opposition.
Sources and References
OECD, Revenue Statistics 2023
The Budget (February 2024)
OECD, Sources of Economic Growth in OECD Countries, 2003
Liebfritz et al, Taxation and Economic Performance, 1997
Facchini & Melki, Efficient government size: France in the 20th century, 2013
Bassanini & Scarpetta, The Driving Forces of Economic Growth: Panel Data Evidence for the OECD Countries, 2001
Lee & Gordon, Tax Structure and economic growth, 2005
Taxes, growth and the tax burden
Opening Speech:
Mr Speaker,
This is a matter of crucial importance and the New Liberals and Centre Party, alongside the Liberal Democrats have worked to bring forward a key concern that we have regarding our nation's finances. The United Kingdom has the highest tax burden amongst the OECD countries at nearly 56%. Not only exceeding the OECD average of 34% but this is a figure that is nearly 10% above the runner up of France at 46.1%. This level of tax burden is very dangerous and harmful for the aims of economic growth. In supporting our assurance of this matter, this is a position that has been backed up and supported by decades of academic study and research where there has been clear evidence and a negative relationship between the tax burden and economic growth. The current tax burden we have is comparatively ridiculously high and we urge the urgency of measures to reduce this tax burden and unlock growth for our economy.
This division closes at 10PM BST on Tuesday 4 June 2024.

Draft 1
Suprabhat, Vannakam, Adab and Welcome to the 2024 LOK SABHA GENERAL ELECTION THUNDERDOME.

NO RULES, NO LIMITS, ONLY CHAOS

POKKS	NDA	INC	Other
Axis My India	361-401	131-166	8-10
CVOTER	353-383	152-182	4-12
Today's Chanakya	385-415	96-118	27-45
CNX	371-401	109-139	28-38
ETG	358	132	53
Poll of Polls	379	136	28

testlink

The Cage -

India is a parliamentary democracy that follows the first-past-the-post voting system, similar to the standard Westminster System. The Lower House of the Indian Parliament (*Lok Sabha*) consists of 543 seats representing 543 constituencies that send 1 Member of Parliament (MP) each. These 543 MP's then choose a prime minister via simple majority.
For each constituency, a political party gives a ticket to a single Candidate. The Candidate with at least a plurality of votes in a constituency represents that Constituency in parliament as a member of the party.
There are no party level primaries in India, the candidate for a constituency is decided by the party high command and only one person from a party can be on the ticket for a particular seat. You can contest multiple constituencies though from the same party as both Narendra Modi (2014 BJP Candidate for both *Varanasi* and *Vadodara*) and Rahul Gandhi (2024 Congress Candidate for both *Rae Bareili* and *Wayanad*) have done. If no existing political party gives you a ticket, you can contest as an Independent Candidate or form your own party and contest as a member of your own party.
The government can be formed by the party or the alliance that has a simple majority of MP's. When no single political party has a majority of MP's, an alliance of various parties can be formed that contains the majority of MP's. This is called a post-poll alliance, where the parties contest elections separately but might come together after the elections in order to form the government or be part of the government.However there is also the pre-poll alliance where political parties join or form an alliance before the elections.
**THE DATES -**
**THE RESULTS -**
**EXIT POLLS -**

THE FIGHTS -

Economy & Employment:

The incumbent BJP-led NDA government makes the positive case of economic growth and development under its decade long tenure. It points to strong rejuvenated GDP growth with relatively low inflation, rising wages, a growing middle class, stable macroeconomic positioning, strong spending, slashing of multidimensional poverty, a strong and well administered welfare state, expanded free trade, sharp reduction in regulation, increase in select manufacturing and industry, a revitalized finance sector, and a thriving service markThe government points to the large-scale infrastructure development undertaken, expanding roadways, delivering expansive electrification, and provisions of basic utility services. They point to the stagnation and policy paralysis observed under the tenure of the last Congress government (*UPA 2*), and further make point to the opposition's alleged proposed populist economic programs as untenable and unfeasible. They make the case that the opposition has leftist economic policies that are not grounded in economic reality.
The INC-led I.N.D.I.A opposition on the other hand, makes the negative case against the incumbents, pointing to large scale youth unemployment, even among educated youth. They point to an alleged inability of the government to tie growth to employment. They allege a failure of manufacturing capacity and sufficient industrialization of the economy, highlighting the lack of sufficient private capital inflows. They criticize the growth figures of the economy by casting doubt on the government's statistics, and focusing extensively on growing wealth inequality, alleging that growth only occurs for the rich billionaire class, with minimal relief for the poor, targeting specific attacks against domestic industrial magnates, Adani and Ambani. They allege favoritism on the part of the incumbent government towards their select base, highlighting the state of Gujarat as being prioritized over other stateset.
In making their positive case, they propose a more inclusive and redistributive model of growth, proposing heightened subsidization programmes, more welfare and support programmes, higher taxation on the wealthy and corporations, leveraging private capital inflows for infrastructure development, and prioritizing equitable growth through a caste census, developing corrective policies for inequalities between castes.
They aim to solve the employment crisis through expanding roles in state enterprises and filling government vacancies, alongside expanding labour intensive industries like manufacturing and mining, whilst pointing to high growth rates of the economy as well as committing to expand manufacturing through reforms and subsidy platforms like the PLI, FAME etc., further claiming that increased infrastructure spending will lead to crowding in effect thus enabling faster industrialization.

Social Justice:

The issues of social equity and justice have become major cornerstones of both the incumbent and opposition electoral platforms. This is most prevalent through the forthcoming section on sectarianism, but also focuses on key issues regarding class equality and - most importantly - caste-based discrimination.
The incumbent BJP-led NDA government point to their solid track record of universal poverty alleviation, targeted successful welfare and affirmative action programmes. The INC-led I.N.D.I.A opposition on the other hand, point to growing wealth inequality and apparent institutional and systemic discrimination against underprivileged caste communities in academia, employment, governmental programmes, courts, the military, etc. They allege that the government has not committed to taking resolute and definitive action against casteism through corrective policy.
This all boils down to the Reservation system, a large scale, affirmative action initiative, conducted through a systematic quota-based policy of allotment of institutional positions in education, governmental employment, schemes and programmes, direct political representation, etc.
With reservations estimated to have hit 59.5% of Central Government Institutional positions, there are now broader calls to expand the scale and scope of this drive. The opposition wanting to break the cap limits and even introduce this system into the private sector to potentially induce parity, while the government commits to more modest hikes of upto 62.5% while playing into incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi's identity as a member of an underprivileged caste community.
While the opposition campaigns on removing limits to the quota system to deliver equity, the government alleges these commitments to be populist and detrimental, while alleging that the opposition seeks to potentially appease its Muslim voter base by introducing expanded reservations for Muslims, thereby allegedly sabotaging the disadvantaged Hindu lower castes, and redistributing their wealth to Muslims, in a bid to gain their votes.

Communalism:

Both the incumbent BJP-led NDA government and the INC-led I.N.D.I.A opposition have framed communalism as a lynchpin issue of the Election. The incumbent government points to alleged casteist and bigoted rhetoric against select caste groups and Hindus. They allege the opposition panders to minorities for their votes, whilst not delivering on the real issues. They allege the opposition seeks to drive up divisiveness and shared social harmony in India. They further allege that the opposition engages in divisive rhetoric on key issues of Hindu-Indian culture like that of the *Ram Temple*, in ways that contradict the spirit of the Indian State.
The opposition on the other hand, accused the incumbent government of being bigoted against minority communities, from the large Muslim community, to the lower caste communities of Indian society. They allege use of hateful and divisive rhetoric against these communities, and point to select controversial government positions and policies on issues like the *Ram Mandir*, the controversial CAA-NRC laws, the proposed Uniform Civil Code, among others. They further allege institutional degradation of key offices including policing, academia, and the military in discriminating against minority groups.

Institutional Independence:

The INC-led I.N.D.I.A opposition alleges institutional degradation and capture of various independent governmental entities by the incumbents. They point to the use of Executive, Investigative, Anti-Corruption, Enforcement, & Tax authorities against opposition figures and media as evidence, highlighting specific cases of the detaining and arrest of two sitting opposition Chief Ministers, and the resignation of one. They highlight alleged selective targeting of opposition figures for raids, charges, and arrests, creating an alleged environment of impunity for the government. The opposition alleges heightened and blatant partisanship of members of the Judiciary in support of the incumbent government. They also allege illegitimate freezing of campaigning funds, crackdowns on press freedoms via capture of media institutions, and also critically alleges institutional capture of the Election Commission, casting doubts on election results primarily critiquing India's Electronic Voting Machines (EVM).
The Government rebukes these claims as part of a strong anti-corruption drive, highlighting a drop in governmental corruption cases since the previous Congress government (UPA 2, infamously riddled with such allegations). The government frames the opposition parties as corrupt and power-hungry, while further disparaging the opposition's alleged unfounded attacks on Indian institutions, apparent partisan attacks on the judiciary and critiquing apparent unfounded claims of election denialism.

THE FIGHTERS –

The election is primarily clash between two large coalitions, and their leading parties. On one side, you have the incumbent government of the BJP-led NDA, or *National Democratic Alliance*, and on the other, you have the opposition INC-led I.N.D.I.A, or *Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance*, a new mega coalition of more than 35 parties, with a few unofficial supporters too.
*The following is a list of some key players in each of the alliances and is by no means a comprehensive or exhaustive list of all involved factions.*

The incumbent NDA includes:

1. ***BJP*** – The BJP (*Bharatiya Janata Party* - "Indian People's Party") is a Hindu nationalist party ce and counterterrorism against Pakistan and China, while pragmatically engaging other nations despite criticism on some foreign policy moves for being 'wolf warrior-esque'. They uphold a strong nationalist domestic and foreign policy, that simultaneously does not retreat from globalization. On National Security, they aim to make India a regional power with a strong emphasis on modernization & indigenization of military administration and technology, while also reducing bureaucratic and manpower burdens through varied recruitment windows.
2. ***JD(U)*** - The JD(U) (*Janata Dal (United)* – “People’s Party (United)”) is led by Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and has been in power in the eastern state of Bihar since 2005. It was formed after a series of splits and mergers in the Janata Dal in the 90s. It is credited with doing good work in the state on roads, electricity, and water, however it has failed to provide jobs & spur manufacturing. This, combined with its leader frequently switching between rival alliances, is causing anti-incumbency.
3. ***TDP*** - The TDP (*Telugu Desam Party* – “Party of the Telugu Land") follows a pro-Telugu ideology. It was founded as an alternative to the Congress hegemony, by emphasizing Telugu regional pride and serving as the party for farmers, backward castes and middle-class people. Since the 1990s, it has followed an economically liberal policy that has been seen as pro-business and pro-development as well as populist welfare measures.

The opposition I.N.D.I.A includes:

1. ***INC*** - The INC (Indian National Congress) is a big tent social-democratic/democratic-socialist party with its foundational pillars being equity, equality, and egalitarianism. They take broad commitments to secularism and class equality to be principal positions. The INC under Rahul Gandhi has taken strong positions on caste issues, shining light on inequities from past and current discrimination, and proposing active policy interventions. While the INC also holds a free-market/pro-liberalization consensus, they emphasize growing social and wealth inequality and seek inclusive and redistributive growth with strong state intervention. They also see some proposed liberalizing reforms to further inequality and take an 'anti-corporatist' position. They take a slightly less strong position to Indian foreign policy, stressing a more diplomatic approach (with minimal variance on actual positions to the incumbents). They embrace globalization in part, while emphasizing India's need for domestic development. They aim to industrialize India rapidly through stimulating private investment and aim to subsidize both supply and demand. They seek to maintain the Indian military with a focus on highly trained soldiers. They pioneered multi-alignment as the foreign policy for India.
2. ***AAP*** - The AAP (*Aam Aadmi Party* – “Common Man's Party"), part of INDIA coalition, currently holds power in two key states - Delhi and Punjab. Its chief figurehead and leader, Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate under an alleged liquor scam in the run up to elections. Barely a 10 year old party it has expanded very quickly to many states, running two of them, and now has national party status by the Election Commission of India (ECI). It leans centre-left to centre-right, with some play of soft *Hindutva*, while its economic platform comprises heavy spending in education, health, and free schemes of water and electricity. They rose to power on an anti-corruption program in 2013 and continues to have it as its central plank.
3. ***CPI(M)*** – The CPI(M) (Communist Party of India (Marxist)). They commies lol. The CPI(M) is one of the larger and more mainstrean communist parties in India. Since they operate within the Indian republic's constitution they have adopted more Indian characterisrics. They are primarily against privatisation in the public sector and in favour of universal education and healthcare. Their base has traditionally been in Kerala, one of the more developed states in India in terms of income levels and HCI. They're in favour of private sector reservations and in recent years have also been pro-FDI They promise non-aligned foreign policy, but largely are very anti-US and pro-China. They promise to restore Article 370 and oppose forceful seizure of land by government. They're one of the most influential parties in India due to a strong cadre and student union ecosystem. They've had an effect on the farmers protests as well as economic positions of the INDI Alliance.
4. ***DMK*** - The DMK (*Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam* - “Dravidian Progressive Federation") is a big tent broad left-wing party that is foundationally *Dravidian* (primarily Tamil) Nationalist, with strong emphasis on social equity and caste issues, while being staunchly secular and atheistic, and interventionist, statist, heavily welfarist, and industrialist in economic policy. They are primarily a regional party operating in the state of Tamil Nadu, led by M.K. Stalin, the state's current Chief Minister.
5. ***RJD*** - The RJD (*Rashtriya Janata Dal* – “National People’s Party”) is a caste-based (Muslims & Yadavs) political party in the Indian state of Bihar, which it ruled from 1990 to 2005. Its rule was one of extreme lawlessness & anarchy. It was called the “Jungle Raj”. Between 1990 & 2000, Bihar's per capita income and power consumption fell off a cliff due to mismanagement. Its CM, Lalu Prasad, was convicted of corruption in 2013.
6. ***SP*** - The SP (*Samajwadi Party* – “Socialist Party”) believes in creating a socialist society that operates on the principle of equality. Although the party previously ran on an anti-computer, anti-English, and anti-machinery platform, under its new national president Akhilesh Yadav, the party has made a 180° turn. Now, the Samajwadi Party declares itself to be the party of infrastructure while maintaining its commitment to social justice, with a special focus on teaching computer skills. The party's main base is in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which is the most populated state in India, with a population of 230 million. The only negatives associated with the party are the rampant dynasticism within its ranks and its perceived soft stance on law and order issues.
7. ***JMM*** - The JMM (*Jharkhand Mukti Morcha* – “Jharkhand Liberation Front") currently runs the govt of eastern state of Jharkhand. The party has historically centred tribal rights as its central plank and agitated for a new tribal state separate from Bihar until 2000, when their demands were met. It leans centre-left to left with their key issues being tribal control of land, mineral and mining rights, addressing issues of rehabilitation of tribals. The party is primarily run by the Soren family, with Champai Soren being its chief minister candidate in the current government after the last chief minister Hemant Soren was arrested by enforcement directorate. JMM is in alliance with the Indian national congress in the state, and part of the INDIA coalition for the Lok Sabha elections. They face charges of corruption and the image of dynastic politics.

The “It’s Complicated”, Unaligned, Split, and/or other Supplementary Parties include:

1. ***TMC*** - The TMC or AITC (All India Trinamool Congress) is a Bengali political party ruling over the state of West Bengal since 2011. It is led by Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee. It is a center-left, welfarist, Bengali Nationalist party. It has been criticized for using heavy-handed authoritarian tactics against opposition leaders in the state, corruption, and political violence. It is credited with ending 34 years of communist rule in the state. West Bengal under the AITC has registered subpar economic performance and is largely stagnant. Pertinent to note Mamata used to be Congress leader till 1998, and AITC, in spite of being sympathetic towards the I.N.D.I.A. alliance at the national level, is fighting the Congress-Left alliance in West Bengal on all 42 seats.
2. ***AIADMK*** - The AIADMK (*All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam* – “All India Anna Dravidian Progressive Federation") is a broad centre-left/left-wing party adhering to foundational Dravidian philosophy, while emphasizing Tamil identity. Traditionally being less ethno-nationalist than their sister opposition party the DMK, they adhere to broad welfarist left-wing populism, focusing on social justice and communal equity, while being less economically statist than the DMK. They also focus primarily on Tamil Nadu as a regional party, currently led by Edappadi Palaniswami.
3. ***Shiv Sena*** - The Shiv Sena (*“Army of Shivaji”*) was founded by Bal Thackeray in 1966 as a populist, xenophobic party, although the party gradually added Hindutva ideology to its anti non-Maharashtrian plank. It was the long time senior partner to the BJP in Maharashtra till Narendra Modi's popularity caused a change in the dynamics. After power sharing talks with the BJP failed in 2019, the Shiv Sena switched alliances to join hands with their long time rivals in Congress and NCP in an arrangement that made Bal Thackeray’s son Uddhav Thackeray the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. In 2022 again, The Majority of Shiv Sena politicians led by Eknath Shinde rebelled against the top leadership to ally again with the BJP, taking control of the party and toppling the Uddhav Thackeray government. The splinter group led by Uddhav Thackeray is called SS (UBT) and it is allied with the Congress in the INDIA Alliance.
4. ***NCP*** – The NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) were founded in 1998 by Sharad Pawar and a few others who left the Congress in 1998 after Sonia Gandhi was made Congress president. Despite it's formation, the NCP was a long term ally of the Congress sharing virtually the same ideology. In 2023 however, like the Shiv Sena, In a rebellion led by Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit, a Majority of NCP politicians switched alliances to support the BJP and took control of the party. Like the Shiv Sena, the Splinter group led by Sharad Pawar and his daughter is called NCP (SP) and it's allied with the Congress in the INDIA Alliance
5. ***YSRCP*** - The YSRCP (*Yuvjana Sramika Rythu Congress Party* – “Youth, Labour, & Farmer Congress Party”) was founded by the son of an old congress Chief Minister after he was denied the role of Chief Minister after his father. It's a populist centre-of-left party with strong focus on welfare schemes and cash benefits. It's mired in controversy due to its dynastic nature, its ties to Christian Fundamentalism and
6. ***BRS*** - The BRS (*Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi* – “Indian National Council”) was formed originally with a single-point agenda of creating a separate Telangana state with Hyderabad as its capital. They are largely neoliberal and are credited with rapid economic growth in Telangana.
7. ***BJD*** – The BJD (*Biju Janata Dal* – “Biju’s People’ Platform”) was formed by Naveen Pattnaik the son of the former CM of Oddisha, Biju Pattnaik. It’s a Odia regional party with a strong focus on poverty upliftment through welfare policies and equitable economic growth.
8. ***BSP*** - The BSP (*Bahujan Samaj Party* - "Majority Community Party") is a center-left party in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which was started to uplift Dalits and other marginalized communities in India by Kanshi Ram. Its current party president is Mayawati. BSP is considered as one of the biggest parties in India as per vote share, although it's currently in decline. At its height, this party had a strong base in many states across north India, but now it's only limited to the state of Uttar Pradesh, which is one of the largest states in India with a population of 230 million. There are strong suspicions of BSP working in secret with BJP, and maybe that's why the party is not fighting this election enthusiastically. Although they can still make the competition interesting on a few seats in UP.

OTHER KEY ISSUES -

1. Political Dynasticism:

Although dynastism is thought to be a good fix for internal chaos in a party, the current political leader of the Congress, Rahul Gandhi, is a fourth-generation dynast who has to carry the political baggage of everything which went wrong during the rule of his grandmother and great-grandfather.
Also because one family has been controlling the Congress for decades, it has caused various state-level leaders to either form their own party or join another one. They see no future in the Congress anymore because the door to leadership is always closed for them. This has destroyed the ground level cadre of Congress party in many key states.
Rahul Gandhi’s privilege combined with the lack of any real political acumen so far has led to the INC taking damage due to is infamy.
Nepotism and dynastic politics has been a key issue throughout the last 10 years as BJP positions itself as the ‘common man’s party’

2. The Ram Mandir:

A land dispute originating from the alleged destruction of a Hindu Temple, replaced by a Mosque built allegedly atop the site (the *Babri Masjid*) in the 16th century allegedly by Mughal Empror Babur in present day Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, the proposed birthplace of the Hindu deity Lord Ram.
Following a century of sporadic conflict, from 1853 to 1949, a revivalist movement in the 1980's would lead to rising communal tensions, culminating in the 1992 destruction of the Ram Temple by Hindu Nationalists and devotees.
The legal conflict over the land would continue until 2019, when the Supreme Court of India issued the controversial ruling that the land be handed over to government trust for the construction of a Ram Temple, with seperate land being allotted to the local Muslim community for construction of a Mosque.
Almost all elements of the dispute remain mired in controversy. From the historical and religious associations of Ayodhya with Ram, the existence of a definitively Hindu structure, the alleged deliberate destruction of the said temple, the times and events of construction and use, the participants, planning, and events of the 1992 destruction, the ASI Archeological Surveys that served as key evidence for the Supreme Court being tampered and politicised by both sides of the politcal aisle, the legality of the ruling itself, and other surrounding issues regarding justice against those alleged to have partaken in the destruction of the Babri Masjid.

3. Foreign Policy:

The BJP is campaigning on building a multi-aligned foreign policy where India is seen as the world’s friend as well as an upcoming regional power. This was at its peak during India’s G20 presidency. Many Indians claim the rise of India’s global stature is an electoral issue. This can be seen in the popularity of the government’s anti-terror operations in both Pakistan and beyond. The resurgence of an interventionist foreign policy has proven to be popular in projecting the strongman image of Modi. The country’s commitment to it’s strategic autonomy and multi-alignment have been a fixture right since Nehru.
**SUPPLEMENTARY SOURCES:**

To clear up a common misconception that this is something that only happens extremely rarely, here's a list of every time more than 4 words have fit one of the categories and what number puzzle it occurred in. The first 4 words are the answers and every word after that in parenthesis are words that fit that category but were part of another group. Also, category names might not be exactly the same as the ones used.

#4 Cleaning Verbs

Possible answers: DUST, MOP, SWEEP, VACUUM, (IRON)

#5 Condiments

Possible answers: KETCHUP, MAYO, RELISH, TARTAR, (MUSTARD)

#5 Clue Characters

Possible answers: GREEN, MUSTARD, PLUM, SCARLET, (PEACOCK)

#6 Shades of Blue

Possible answers: BABY, MIDNIGHT, POWDER, ROYAL, (SEA)

#6 Rappers

Possible answers: COMMON, FUTURE, ICE CUBE, Q-TIP, (CHANCE)

#9 Shirts

Possible answers: CAMI, HALTER, TANK, TEE, (POLO)

#9 Vegetables

Possible answers: BEET, CARROT, CORN, ONION, (SQUASH)

#9 Insects

Possible answers: ANT, BEETLE, MANTIS, TERMITE, (CRICKET)

#10 Countries

Possible answers: CHAD, GEORGIA, JORDAN, TOGO, (TURKEY)

#10 Birds

Possible answers: CRANE, JAY, TURKEY, SWALLOW, (KIWI)

#11 Spices

Possible answers: CARDAMOM, CLOVE, CORIANDER, CUMIN, (GINGER)

#11 Terms of Endearment

Possible answers: BOO, HONEY, SUGAR, SWEETIE, (BABY)

#12 Animal Group Names

Possible answers: FLOCK, PACK, POD, SCHOOL, (PRIDE)

#12 Deadly Sins

Possible answers: ENVY, GREED, LUST, PRIDE, (SLOTH)

#13 Airlines

Possible answers: FRONTIER, SPIRIT, UNITED, VIRGIN, (DELTA)

#13 Greek Letters

Possible answers: BETA, CHI, DELTA, IOTA, (NU)

#13 Silent G's

Possible answers: GNAT, GNAW, GNOCCHI, GNOME, (GNU)

#14 Famous Brothers

Possible answers: JONAS, MARX, WARNER, WRIGHT, (MARIO)

#14 Honda Vehicles

Possible answers: ACCORD, CIVIC, PASSPORT, PILOT, (CANOPY)

#15 Colors

Possible answers: BROWN, PINK, TURQUOISE, VIOLET, (SILVER)

#15 Fishing Equipment

Possible answers: LURE, REEL, ROD, TACKLE, (HOOK)

#16 Nuts

Possible answers: ALMOND, CASHEW, PECAN, WALNUT (PEANUT)

#17 Neck Accessories

Possible answers: ASCOT, BOLO, TIE, SCARF, (BOW)

#19 Disagreement

Possible answers: QUARREL, ROW, SPAT, TIFF, QUARREL, (BEEF)

#20 Grains

Possible answers: BARLEY, OAT, RYE, SPELT, (RICE)

#20 Royal Titles

Possible answers: BARON, EARL, KING, PRINCE, (DUKE)

#23 60's Band Member

Possible answers: BEACH BOY, BEATLE, BYRD, MONKEE, (ROLLING STONE)

#23 Dance Fads

Possible answers: DOUGIE, MACARENA, MASHED POTATO, TWIST, (VOGUE)

#25 Desserts

Possible answers: CHEESECAKE, FLAN, MOUSSE, TIRAMISU, (FUDGE)

#25 Animals with Tusks

Possible answers: ELEPHANT, HIPPO, NARWHAL, WARTHOG, (WALRUS)

#26 Countries (Holland is technically a region but it's often used as an informal name for the Netherlands)

Possible answers: DENMARK, GREECE, POLAND, PORTUGAL, (HOLLAND)

#26 Spelled with Roman Numerals

Possible answers: DILL, LIVID, MILD, MIX, (MIMIC)

#27 Body Parts

Possible answers: HEART, LIVER, LUNG, KIDNEY, (SPINE)

#28 File Extensions

Possible answers: GIF, PDF, TIFF, ZIP, (DOC)

#28 Fruits

Possible answers: BANANA, COCONUT, MANGO, PINEAPPLE, (KIWI)

#30 Joints

Possible answers: HIP, KNEE, SHOULDER, WRIST, (ELBOW)

#33 Boats

Possible answers: FERRY, JUNK, TUG, YACHT, (SUB)

#33 Cuts of Beef

Possible answers: FLANK, LOIN, ROUND, SHANK, (CHUCK)

#34 Smell

Possible answers: AROMA, BOUQUET, FRAGRANCE, SCENT, (FUNK)

#34 Music Genres

Possible answers: BLUES, COUNTRY, FUNK, SOUL, (ROCK)

#35 Metals

Possible answers: IRON, LEAD, TIN, ZINC, (NICKEL)

#36 Animals

Possible answers: KANGAROO, KOALA, WALLABY, WOMBAT, (MOLE RAT)

#38 Trees

Possible answers: ASH, CEDAR, MAPLE, PINE, (ELM)

#38 Land Formation

Possible answers: HILL, MOUNTAIN, PLATEAU, VALLEY, (PLAIN)

#38 Bagel Flavors

Possible answers: EVERYTHING, ONION, PLAIN, POPPY, (SESAME)

#41 Islands

Possible answers: CUBA, JAPAN, MALTA, PALAU, (FIJI), (JAVA)

#42 Punctuation Marks

Possible answers: COLON, COMMA, HYPHEN, PERIOD, (DASH)

#43 Birds

Possible answers: BOOBY, GULL, PELICAN, PUFFIN, (CANARY)

#45 Modes of Transportation

Possible answers: BOAT, CAR, PLANE, TRAIN, (SUBWAY)

#46 Cities

Possible answers: CHICAGO, MUNICH, PHILADELPHIA, RIO, (MANHATTAN)

#46 Fashion Magazines

Possible answers: ALLURE, ELLE, GLAMOUR, W, (COSMOPOLITAN)

#46 Storms

Possible answers: BLIZZARD, CYCLONE, SQUALL, TORNADO, (HURRICANE)

#48 Apparitions

Possible answers: GHOST, PHANTOM, SPECTER, SPIRIT, (GENIE)

#49 Relatives

Possible answers: AUNT, COUSIN, MOTHER, NEPHEW, (GRANDFATHER)

#49 Offbeat

Possible answers: DAFFY, KOOKY, QUIRKY, WACKY, (CUCKOO)

#49 Fictional Ducks

Possible answers: DAISY, DEWEY, DONALD, SCROOGE, (DAFFY)

#50 Imperial Measurements

Possible answers: FOOT, INCH, MILE, YARD, (QUART)

#52 Rodents

Possible answers: GERBIL, HAMSTER, RAT, VOLE, (MOUSE)

#52 Musical Instruments

Possible answers: HARP, HORN, ORGAN, TRIANGLE, (KEYBOARD)

#52 Complain

Possible answers: CARP, GRIPE, GROUSE, MOAN, (HARP)

#53 Animal Group Names

Possible answers: COLONY, HERD, PRIDE, SWARM, (FAMILY)

#53 AP Classes

Possible answers: BIO, CHEM, GOV, STATS, (LIT)

#54 Places for Worship

Possible answers: ALTAR, RELIQUARY, SHRINE, TEMPLE, (ABBEY)

#54 Presidents

Possible answers: CALVIN, CHESTER, GROVER, HARRY, (GARFIELD)

#56 Dances

Possible answers: HUSTLE, SALSA, SWING, TANGO, (TAP)

#57 Patterns

Possible answers: HOUNDSTOOTH, PAISLEY, PLAID, STRIPES, (DOT)

#58 Arachnids

Possible answers: MITE, SCORPION, SPIDER, TICK, (BLACK WIDOW)

#58 Fish

Possible answers: CHAR, EEL, PERCH, SHARK, (CATFISH)

#58 Superheroes

Possible answers: BLACK WIDOW, BLADE, FLASH, STORM, (TICK)

#59 Quantity

Possible answers: FEW, HANDFUL, SEVERAL, SOME, (PAIR)

#59 Celestial Objects

Possible answers: ASTEROID, COMET, MOON, PLANET, (SUN)

#60 Sports Venues

Possible answers: COURT, DIAMOND, FIELD, RINK, (RING)

#60 Jewelry

Possible answers: ANKLET, BANGLE, BROOCH, PENDANT, (RING), (CHARM)

#62 State Abbreviations

Possible answers: CO, MA, ME, PA, (LA)

#62 Period Table Symbols

Possible answers: FE, HE, NA, NI, (CO), (PA), (LA), (TI)

#63 Slang for Zero

Possible answers: JACK, NADA, NOTHING, SQUAT, (ZIP)

#63 Exercises

Possible answers: CURL, LUNGE, PLANK, PRESS, (SQUAT), (CRUNCH)

#63 Captains

Possible answers: CRUNCH, KANGAROO, OBVIOUS, PLANET, (JACK)

#64 Dog Names

Possible answers: FIDO, LUCKY, ROVER, SPOT, (REX)

#64 Perceive

Possible answers: CATCH, NOTICE, OBSERVE, SEE, (SPOT)

#64 Fishing Terms

Possible answers: BAIT, CHUM, FLY, SINKER, (CATCH)

#65 Energy

Possible answers: JUICE, SPIRIT, STEAM, VIGOR, (GAS), (FIRE)

#66 Time Periods

Possible answers: CENTURY, DECADE, MILLENNIUM, YEAR, (MONTH)

#66 Breakfast Foods

Possible answers: CEREAL, OMELET, PANCAKE, WAFFLE, (BACON), (EGG)

#67 Desserts

Possible answers: CAKE, COBBLER, PIE, TART, (FUDGE)

#67 Occupations

Possible answers: FISHER, MASON, MILLER, SMITH, (DOCTOR)

#68 Extremely

Possible answers: AWFUL, QUITE, SUPER, VERY, (REAL)

#68 Currencies

Possible answers: RAND, REAL, STERLING, WON, (POUND)

#68 _____Cake

Possible answers: CARROT, COFFEE, POUND, SPONGE, (CUP)

#69 Shoes

Possible answers: CLOG, PUMP, SLIDE, WEDGE, (MARY JANE)

#69 Slang for Marijuana

Possible answers: GRASS, HERB, MARY JANE, WEED, (BUD), (POT)

#70 Camping Supplies

Possible answers: COOLER, LANTERN, SLEEPING BAG, TENT, (CAMPER)

#70 Insult

Possible answers: BARB, DIG, DISS, JAB, (SLIGHT)

#71 States

Possible answers: ARIZONA, COLORADO, NEVADA, UTAH, (KANSAS), (MONTANA)

#72 Santa's Reindeer

Possible answers: COMET, CUPID, DASHER, VIXEN, (DANCER)

#72 Seen on Valentine's Day

Possible answers: CARD, HEART, CHOCOLATE, ROSE, (CUPID)

#73 Facial Hair

Possible answers: BEARD, GOATEE, MUSTACHE, STUBBLE, (HANDLEBAR)

#73 Pursue

Possible answers: DOG, FOLLOW, TAIL, TRACK, (SHADOW)

#74 Failures

Possible answers: BUSTS, FLOPS, MISSES, TURKEYS, (DUDS)

#75 Social Gathering

Possible answers: BASH, BLOWOUT, PARTY, SHINDIG, (MIXER)

#75 Found in a Kitchen

Possible answers: COUNTER, MIXER, RANGE, SINK, (ISLAND)

#79 Depart Quickly

Possible answers: BOOK, BOUNCE, RUN, SPLIT, (JET)

#79 Shades of Black

Possible answers: EBONY, JET, ONYX, RAVEN, (BLACK)

#80 Influence

Possible answers: CLOUT, PULL, WEIGHT, SWAY, (IMPACT)

#81 Appetizer Unit

Possible answers: FRY, NACHO, POPPER, WING, (CHIP), (CRACKER)

#81 Response to a Correct Answer

Possible answers: BINGO, CORRECT, RIGHT, YES, (DING)

#82 Drink Vessels

Possible answers: GOBLET, SNIFTER, TUMBLER, STEIN, (FLUTE)

#82 Woodwinds

Possible answers: CLARINET, FLUTE, OBOE, SAXOPHONE, (BASSOON)

#82 American Poets

Possible answers: BISHOP, FROST, OLDS, POUND, (STEIN)

#83 Unclothed

Possible answers: BARE, NAKED, NUDE, UNCLAD, (BUFF)

#83 Football Actions

Possible answers: FUMBLE, PUNT, SACK, SNAP, (TURNOVER)

#83 Finger Actions

Possible answers: BUFF, CLIP, FILE, POLISH, (SNAP)

#84 Female Animals

Possible answers: COW, DOE, HEN, MARE, (EWE)

#84 Pronouns

Possible answers: I, IT, THEY, WE, (YOU)

#84 Roman Numerals

Possible answers: D, L, M, V, (I)

#86 Information Displays

Possible answers: CHART, DIAGRAM, GRAPH, MAP, (PIE)

#86 Additional Benefit

Possible answers: BONUS, EXTRA, ICING, PERK, (GRAVY)

#86 Creatures in Folklore

Possible answers: GNOME, GOBLIN, OGRE, TROLL, (DRAGON)

#89 Alcohol

Possible answers: CIDER, PORT, SAKE, STOUT, (SPIRIT), (SCOTCH)

#89 Pixar Movies

Possible answers: BRAVE, CARS, COCO, UP, (SOUL)

#90 Baseball Calls

Possible answers: BALL, OUT, SAFE, STRIKE, (WALK)

#90 Fish

Possible answers: CARP, CATFISH, FLOUNDER, SMELT, (SALMON)

#91 Jungle Animals

Possible answers: ANACONDA, CAPYBARA, JAGUAR, TOUCAN, (LION)

#91 Lowest Point

Possible answers: BASE, BOTTOM, FOOT, FOUNDATION, (LEGS)

#92 Halloween Decorations

Possible answers: BAT, COBWEB, PUMPKIN, TOMBSTONE, (BONES)

#93 Animal Sounds

Possible answers: BUZZ, CLUCK, MEOW, OINK, (BARK)

#93 Inside Info

Possible answers: DIRT, DISH, SCOOP, SKINNY, (TEA)

#95 Songs that are Names

Possible answers: ALEJANDRO, LOLA, MICHELLE, STAN, (IRIS)

#96 Animals

Possible answers: BUFFALO, COW, GOAT, SHEEP, (HORSE)

#96 Gymnastics Apparatus

Possible answers: FLOOR, HORSE, RINGS, VAULT, (BEAM)

#97 Fairy Tale Figures

Possible answers: GIANT, PRINCESS, WITCH, WOLF, (QUEEN)

#97 "Peanuts" Characters

Possible answers: CHARLIE, PEPPERMINT PATTY, PIGPEN, WOODSTOCK, (LUCY)

#98 Fruits

Possible answers: APRICOT, FIG, GRAPE, LIME, (BERRY)

#98 Luxurious

Possible answers: DELUXE, GRAND, LAVISH, OPULENT, (SWANK)

#99 Intelligent

Possible answers: BRIGHT, CLEVER, QUICK, SHARP, (SMART)

#100 Web Browser-Related

Possible answers: BOOKMARK, HISTORY, TAB, WINDOW, (LINK), (POCKET)

#100 Dirty_____

Possible answers: DOZEN, JOKE, LAUNDRY, MARTINI, (WINDOW)

#101 Bowling Terms

Possible answers: ALLEY, BALL, LANE, PIN, (SPARE)

#101 Common Merch Items

Possible answers: MUG, PEN, TEE, TOTE, (PIN)

#102 Vehicles

Possible answers: BUS, CAR, MOTORCYCLE, TRUCK, (SCOOTER)

#102 Muppets

Possible answers: ANIMAL, BEAKER, GONZO, SCOOTER, (CHEF), (PIGGY)

#103 Soda Fountain Orders (Concrete can mean a type of milkshake or frozen custard)

Possible answers: FLOAT, MALT, SHAKE, SUNDAE, (CONCRETE), (SPLIT)

#104 Robust

Possible answers: FIT, HEALTHY, SOUND, STRONG, (WELL)

#104 Water Sources

Possible answers: FOUNTAIN, SPRING, TAP, WELL, (SINK)

#105 Kitchen Utensils

Possible answers: GRATER, LADLE, PEELER, WHISK, (CLEAVER)

#106 Wedding Items

Possible answers: BOUQUET, RING, TRAIN, VEIL, (CAKE)

#106 Encase

Possible answers: CAKE, COAT, COVER, CRUST, (VEIL)

#107 Snakes

Possible answers: BOA, MAMBA, PYTHON, VIPER, (GARTER)

#108 Produced by Trees

Possible answers: ACORN, CONE, POLLEN, SAP, (GUM), (NEEDLE)

#108 Candy

Possible answers: CHOCOLATE, GUM, LICORICE, LOLLIPOP, (SUCKER)

#108 Target of a Scheme

Possible answers: CHUMP, FOOL, MARK, SUCKER, (SAP)

#109 Rap Subgenres

Possible answers: BOUNCE, CRUNK, DRILL, GRIME, (TRAP)

#110 Golf Clubs

Possible answers: IRON, PUTTER, WEDGE, WOOD, (CLUB)

#112 Coffee Counter Items

Possible answers: CUP, LID, STIRRER, STRAW, (STICK)

#114 Talk

Possible answers: BLATHER, CHAT, GAB, JABBER, (YAK)

#115 Christmas-Related

Possible answers: MISTLETOE, REINDEER, SNOWMAN, STOCKING, (PRESENT), (CANDY CANE)

#116 MLB Teams

Possible answers: ANGEL, CUB, MET, RED, (NAT)

#119 Celebratory Occasion

Possible answers: ANNIVERSARY, BIRTHDAY, SHOWER, WEDDING, (RECEPTION), (SERVICE)

#120 Crops

Possible answers: CORN, CUCUMBER, PEPPER, TOMATO, (MELON)

#121 Bible Books

Possible answers: ACTS, JOB, KINGS, MARK, (GENESIS)

#121 NHL Teams

Possible answers: FLAMES, KRAKEN, STARS, WILD, (KINGS), (RANGER)

#123 Conceal

Possible answers: BLOCK, COVER, HIDE, MASK, (SHIELD)

#124 "L" Cities

Possible answers: LAGOS, LIMERICK, LINCOLN, LUXOR, (LIMA)

#124 Poetry Terms

Possible answers: LINE, METER, RHYME, VERSE, (LIMERICK)

#125 Butt

Possible answers: BOTTOM, BUNS, SEAT, TAIL, (BOOTY)

#126 Tools

Possible answers: HAMMER, FILE, LEVEL, SAW, (WRENCH)

#126 Keyboard Shortcuts

Possible answers: COPY, FIND, PRINT, SAVE, (FILE)

#127 Days of the Week

Possible answers: FRIDAY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY, THURSDAY, (WEDNESDAY), (TUESDAY)

#127 Go Bad

Possible answers: ROT, SOUR, SPOIL, TURN, (FESTER)

#129 Bit of Air

Possible answers: BREEZE, DRAFT, GUST, PUFF, (PANT)

#130 Falsify

Possible answers: FABRICATE, FAKE, FIX, FORGE, (FUDGE)

#130 TV Shows

Possible answers: FARGO, FIREFLY, FLEABAG, FLIPPER, (FRIENDS)

#131 Animal Homes

Possible answers: DEN, LAIR, HIVE, NEST, (WEB), (WARREN)

#131 Equitable

Possible answers: EQUAL, EVEN, FAIR, JUST, (GOOD)

#132 Tableware

Possible answers: BOWL, DISH, PLATE, SAUCER, (CROCK), (CUP)

#133 British Food

Possible answers: MASH, ROAST, SCONE, TRIFLE, (BANGER)

#133 Predicament

Possible answers: BIND, PICKLE, SCRAPE, SPOT, (JAM)

#134 Impel

Possible answers: DRIVE, INSPIRE, MOTIVATE, SPUR, (SPARK)

#135 Compound Words

Possible answers: BACKPACK, BIGWIG, DOWNTOWN, RAGTAG, (TEXTBOOK)

#136 Grammar Tenses

Possible answers: FUTURE, PAST, PERFECT, PRESENT, (SIMPLE)

#136 The 12 Days of Christmas

Possible answers: DRUMMER, LADY, RING, SWAN, (LORD)

#137 Excellent

Possible answers: ACES, KEEN, NEATO, NIFTY, (SWELL)

#137 Bubbles

Possible answers: FOAM, FROTH, HEAD, LATHER, (BUBBLE)

#138 Metals

Possible answers: COPPER, GOLD, NICKEL, SILVER, (BRASS), (MERCURY)

#139 Aesthetics

Possible answers: DRESS, LOOK, MANNER, STYLE, (TASTE)

#140 Mishmash

Possible answers: HASH, JUMBLE, MEDLEY, STEW, (LITTER)

#143 Filler Words

Possible answers: ERM, UH, UM, WELL, (LIKE), (ER)

#146 Clue Weapons

Possible answers: CANDLESTICK, KNIFE, ROPE, WRENCH, (PIPE)

#147 Unchanging

Possible answers: EVEN, LEVEL, STABLE, STEADY, (UNIFORM)

#147 Long, Sharp Objects

Possible answers: LANCE, PIN, SKEWER, SPIT, (PITCHFORK)

#148 Musical Format

Possible answers: LP, PLATTER, VINYL, WAX, (CD)

#148 Cube-Shaped

Possible answers: BOUILLON, DIE, ICE, SUGAR, (STOCK)

#150 Equivocate

Possible answers: HEDGE, SEE-SAW, WAVER, YO-YO, (FLIP-FLOP), (WAFFLE)

#151 Podcasts

Possible answers: RADIOLAB, SERIAL, UP FIRST, WTF, (FRESH AIR), (REPLY ALL)

#152 Intelligent

Possible answers: BRIGHT, QUICK, SHARP, SMART, (SAGE)

#152 Medieval Weapons

Possible answers: CLUB, MACE, SPEAR, SWORD, (AXE)

#153 Filmmaking Equipment

Possible answers: BOOM, DOLLY, LENS, TRIPOD, (GRIP)

#154 Sports Professionals

Possible answers: COACH, GM, PLAYER, SCOUT, (SUB)

#154 Car Companies

Possible answers: BMW, HONDA, JAGUAR, SUBARU, (FORD), (GM)

#156 Vocal Fanfare

Possible answers: BEHOLD, PRESTO, TADA, VOILA, (SURPRISE)

#157 Magazines

Possible answers: O, OK, US, W, (EW), (SI)

#157 Yes

Possible answers: HAI, JA, SI, DA, (OK), (OUI)

#158 Animals

Possible answers: BUFFALO, DEER, FISH, MOOSE, (BULL), (STEER), (SEAL)

#160 Quick Observation

Possible answers: GANDER, GLANCE, GLIMPSE, LOOK, (PEEK)

#160 Parts of a Mountain

Possible answers: CLIFF, CRAG, LEDGE, RIDGE, (BLUFF), (PEAK)

#161 _____Day

Possible answers: EARTH, GROUNDHOG, LABOR, MAY, (BIRTH)

#162 Primates

Possible answers: BABOON, BONOBO, GIBBON, GORILLA, (APE)

#162 Fashionable

Possible answers: CHIC, HIP, HOT, IN, (VOGUE)

#164 Area Between Mountains

Possible answers: CANYON, GULCH, PASS, RAVINE, (GORGE)

#165 Food

Possible answers: PASTY, PIE, TART, TURNOVER, (PARFAIT), (RAGOUT), (CURRY)

#165 Countries

Possible answers: JAPAN, POLAND, TUNISIA, TURKEY, (JORDAN)

#166 Reality Shows

Possible answers: ALONE, CATFISH, CHOPPED, SURVIVOR, (BACHELOR)

#168 Municipalities

Possible answers: CITY, TOWN, COUNTY, VILLAGE, (CAPITAL)

#171 Parts of the Foot

Possible answers: ARCH, BALL, SOLE, TOE, (HEEL)

#171 Dog Commands

Possible answers: COME, DOWN, SIT, STAY, (HEEL)

#173 Ways to Remove Hair

Possible answers: SHAVE, THREAD, TWEEZE, WAX, (CUT)

#174 Hold Back

Possible answers: CAP, CHECK, CURB, LIMIT, (HAMPER)

#175 Excite, with "Up"

Possible answers: AMP, FIRE, HYPE, PUMP, (GAS)

#177 TV Shows

Possible answers: CHEERS, EUPHORIA, FELICITY, GLEE, (FRASIER)

#178 Found on Sheet Music

Possible answers: CLEF, NOTE, REST, STAFF, (SCALES)

#178 Zodiac Symbols

Possible answers: BULL, CRAB, SCALES, TWINS, (VIRGIN)

#180 Absolute

Possible answers: PURE, SHEER, TOTAL, UTTER, (STARK)

#180 Express

Possible answers: AIR, SPEAK, STATE, VOICE, (UTTER)

#181 Cooking Oils

Possible answers: CORN, OLIVE, PALM, PEANUT, (RICE)

#183 Luxurious Fabrics

Possible answers: CHIFFON, SILK, SATIN, VELVET, (LACE)

#185 -ough

Possible answers: BOUGH, COUGH, DOUGH, TOUGH, (ROUGH), (ENOUGH)

#189 Used to Build a Snowman

Possible answers: CARROT, COAL, SNOW, STICKS, (STONES)

#190 NYC Avenues

Possible answers: BROADWAY, FIFTH, MADISON, PARK, (SECOND), (FIRST), (ELEVENTH)

#191 Accessories

Possible answers: BELT, BRACELET, TIE, WATCH, (CHARM)

#199 Name Prefixes

Possible answers: GEN, MS, PROF, REV, (DR)

#200 Parts of a Car

Possible answers: BUMPER, HOOD, TIRE, TRUNK, (DASH)

#201 Single Letter Homophones

Possible answers: BEE, EX, GEE, JAY, (TEE)

#203 New Years-Related

Possible answers: BALL, COUNTDOWN, FIREWORKS, KISS, (PARTY), (RESOLUTION), (CHAMPAGNE)

#207 Gift-Giving Accessories

Possible answers: BOW, BOX, CARD, WRAPPING, (MESSAGE)

#210 Kinds of Exams

Possible answers: BAR, FINAL, ORAL, PHYSICAL, (EYE)

#211 Long, Skinny Objects

Possible answers: POLE, ROD, STAFF, STICK, (CLUB)

#212 Cooking Elements

Possible answers: ACID, FAT, HEAT, SALT, (PEPPER), (SMOKE)

#213 Seen at a Casino

Possible answers: CARDS, CHIPS, DICE, SLOTS, (POKER)

#213 Ways to Prepare Cheese

Possible answers: CRUMBLE, MELT, SHRED, SLICE, (GRATE)

#217 Thieve

Possible answers: PINCH, ROB, STEAL, SWIPE, (JACK)

#218 Medicine Formats

Possible answers: CAPSULE, CREAM, SYRUP, TABLET, (POD)

#221 Colors

Possible answers: BLUE, GREEN, WHITE, YELLOW, (SCARLET)

#222 Minced Oaths

Possible answers: CURSES, DARN, RATS, SHOOT, (FUDGE), (NUTS)

#224 Contains Wax

Possible answers: CANDLE, CRAYON, HONEYCOMB, SEAL, (EAR)

#229 Baseball-Related

Possible answers: BALL, BASE, BAT, GLOVE, (STRIKE)

#233 Mario Power-ups

Possible answers: FEATHER, STAR, MUSHROOM, FLOWER, (HAMMER)

#234 _____Pit

Possible answers: BARBECUE, ORCHESTRA, SNAKE, TAR, (FIRE)

#235 Make Shorter

Possible answers: CLIP, CUT, PARE, TRIM, (PRUNE)

#235 Muscular

Possible answers: BUILT, JACKED, RIPPED, SWOLE, (TRIM), (BUFF)

#237 Farm Fixtures

Possible answers: COOP, PEN, STABLE, STY, (RANGE)

#238 Unexciting

Possible answers: BORING, DULL, MUNDANE, VANILLA, (ROUTINE), (DRY)

#239 Ecclesiastical Titles

Possible answers: BISHOP, CARDINAL, PASTOR, PRIOR, (BROTHER), (LORD)

#251 Media Attention

Possible answers: COVERAGE, EXPOSURE, PRESS, PUBLICITY, (MEDIA)

#254 Little Bit of Liquid

Possible answers: BEAD, GLOB, DROP, TEAR, (DRIP)

#257 Shades of Green

Possible answers: OLIVE, FOREST, LIME, MINT, (CACTUS)

#260 Ilk

Possible answers: KIND, SORT, TYPE, VARIETY, (MANNER)

#263 Propel into the Air

Possible answers: HOP, JUMP, LEAP, SPRING, (VAULT)

#266 Large Amount

Possible answers: MASS, SEA, SLEW, TON, (WAVE)

#266 Fall under Pressure

Possible answers: BUCKLE, CAVE, COLLAPSE, GIVE, (FLOP)

#268 Pop Stars

Possible answers: GRANDE, MARS, STYLES, SWIFT, (LEGEND)

#269 Found at an Airport

Possible answers: HANGAR, RUNWAY, TARMAC, TERMINAL, (WINDSOCK)

#269 Ends in an Article of Clothing (A Mac is a raincoat)

Possible answers: FOXGLOVE, GUMSHOE, TURNCOAT, WINDSOCK, (TARMAC), (LAWSUIT)

#271 Food Preservation Techniques

Possible answers: CAN, CURE, DRY, FREEZE, (SPICE)

#272 Space_____

Possible answers: BAR, CADET, HEATER, STATION, (BLANKET)

#273 Keyboard Keys

Possible answers: COMMAND, CONTROL, OPTION, SHIFT, (SPACE)

#283 Seen at a Sports Stadium

Possible answers: ASTROTURF, JUMBOTRON, SCOREBOARD, SKYBOX, (KISSCAM), (JOURNEYMAN)

#284 Animals

Possible answers: COW, DOE, HEN, EWE, (YAK)

#284 Palindromes

Possible answers: BIB, EYE, GAG, POP, (EWE)

#285 Olympic Sports

Possible answers: BREAKING, HOCKEY, TRAMPOLINE, SKELETON, (CRICKET), (SQUASH), (VOLLEYBALL)

#289 Plant Growths

Possible answers: BLOOM, BUD, SHOOT, SPROUT, (CORONA)

#290 Quarrel

Possible answers: FIGHT, ROW, SCRAP, TIFF, (WAR)

#290 Games of Chance (Poker is technically a game of skill but it's still highly associated with chance)

Possible answers: BINGO, LOTTERY, ROULETTE, WAR, (POKER)

#291 Whale Species

Possible answers: BLUE, FIN, GRAY, RIGHT, (PILOT)

#293 Food Preservation Techniques

Possible answers: CANS, CURES, SALTS, SMOKES, (JAMS), (PICKLES)

#296 Thrust

Possible answers: JAB, POKE, PROD, STICK, (ELBOW)

#301 _____Horse

Possible answers: CHARLEY, CRAZY, DARK, GIFT, (PRIZE)

#302 Brief Moment

Possible answers: FLASH, HEARTBEAT, JIFF, WINK, (ZIP)

#302 Dispute

Possible answers: CLASH, TANGLE, SCRAP, TIFF, (SPAT)

#303 Hair Care Items

Possible answers: BRUSH, COMB, DRYER, IRON, (OIL)

#307 Seen at the Circus

Possible answers: CLOWN, RING, TENT, TRAPEZE, (LION)

#310 Parts of a Theatre

Possible answers: BALCONY, BOX, ORCHESTRA, STAGE, (FLOOR)

#312 Golden_____

Possible answers: FLEECE, GIRLS, PARACHUTE, RULE, (MEAN)

#315 Starting with the Same Sound

Possible answers: CYMBAL, SCIMITAR, SIMMER, SYMPHONY, (SYMBOL)

#318 Mexican Food-Related

Possible answers: CILANTRO, LIME, ONION, SALSA, (PICO), (WRAP), (MOLE)

#328 _____Sale

Possible answers: BAKE, CLEARANCE, GARAGE, SAMPLE, (YARD)

#329 Enjoy

Possible answers: FANCY, LOVE, RELISH, SAVOR, (LIKE)

#330 Quantity

Possible answers: FEW, MANY, SEVERAL, SOME, (COUPLE), (HANDFUL)

#333 Restrict

Possible answers: CHECK, CONTAIN, CURB, LIMIT, (CAP)

#339 Forthright

Possible answers: DIRECT, FRANK, OPEN, STRAIGHT, (PLAIN)

#342 Games

Possible answers: CATEGORIES, CHARADES, FISHBOWL, WEREWOLF, (MOUSETRAP)

#345 Billiards-Related

Possible answers: BALL, CHALK, CUE, RACK, (POCKET)

#348 Things You can Crack

Possible answers: EGG, KNUCKLES, SMILE, WINDOW, (CORN)

#351 _____Iron

Possible answers: PUMP, STEAM, TIRE, WAFFLE, (FLAT)

#355 Things People Shake

Possible answers: HANDS, MARACA, POLAROID, SNOWGLOBE, (BODY)

So as you all know there are lots of scams now. They post a job and then pretend to be a recruiter and ask you to download Telegram and Whatsapp for the interview.
But today I got a response from a "recruiter" which is clearly a scam. But they're using the name of a legitimate law firm. The scammers are getting more confident and aggressive than ever.
They sent an email and then I clicked on a google doc and there was this.
We have received your application for the job ad and have looked over your resume. The job description is below. The post is still open, however it will be a somewhat different one as a virtual or personal assistant.
My name is (NAME OF A REAL LAWYER). As an investor in human capital and philanthropist, I manage a network of established commercial relationships with a variety of firms both domestically and internationally. My schedule requires the function of an Assistant due to a recent engagement and subsequent business development. This will help me leverage my workload to guarantee timely service delivery, pay attention to items of concern, and avoid excessive backlogs and ignored briefs.
The sensitivity of this position warrants the officeholder to be upright, responsive, accountable, trustworthy, emphatic, persevering, honest, and willingly ready to go the extra mile.
· Receiving Phone Calls from my clients. · Making Regular Drop-offs at FedEx Stores for letters meant for my clients. · Basic wage is $650 weekly. Working to 5 hours Daily, and 4 Days weekly. (You can choose your working hours for more flexibility)
Due to my frequent travels, I now have an extremely active schedule. As such, this is a remote work from home role rather than an office position. For now, it's part-time employment from home. I'm currently away for some property surveys in the Caribbean Islands of North America to do property surveys. I will return in three weeks. I thus require an assistant to take care of household matters for me, which happens rather frequently. I need someone with strong communication skills who can respond to emails promptly.
This is only an explanation; as time goes on, we should be able to set up a formal meeting for when I arrive. If you'll be available to me, I do have some tasks you could assist me with this week. We may get our working consanguinity off to a solid start if you accept the offer.
PLEASE SEND THE REQUESTED INFORMATION BELOW TO ME BY EMAIL:
[NAMEOFREALLAWER1@gmail.com](mailto:NAMEOFREALLAWER1@gmail.com)
DO CONFIRM ACCEPTANCE OF THIS POSITION BY PROVIDING THE BELOW DETAILS. DECLINE THE OFFER BY NOT REPLYING, OR SAYING NO. PLEASE COMPLETE THE APPLICATION FORM REQUIREMENT BELOW :
*FULL NAME: *MAILING ADDRESS WITH APT/UNIT # : (ONLY FOR MAILING PURPOSES) *CITY, STATE & ZIPCODE : *MOBILE & HOME PHONE#: *PRESENT JOB: *HOW SOON ARE YOU AVAILABLE TO START?
KINDLY COMPOSE A NEW EMAIL AND SEND ME THE INFORMATION REQUESTED ABOVE OR IF ANY QUESTIONS TO [NAMEOFREALLAWER1@gmail.com](mailto:NAMEOFREALLAWER1@gmail.com)
Thanks

The Flash #96 - Close Encounters of the Cold Kind

<< < > Coming July 1st
Author: brooky12
Book: Flash
Arc: ?
Set: 96
 
Abra and Lisa walked through the door, already glancing at corners and posters on the wall, noting down the potential spots for hidden cameras. Abra was wearing a slick suit and tie, as if he had just walked out the door from some generic office C-suite job. Lisa was in a much more suble outfit, a casual dress and wool pullover, large purse that seemed inconspicuous if you didn’t know a pair of ice skates were hiding in it.
 
“You go on, I’m just going to sit down,” Lisa sighed, waving Abra forward as she moved towards a nearby couch. None of the people in line for the bank teller minded the two, other than the younger woman at the end of the line who seemed motivated to pay attention to anything but the fact that she was going to be standing for the next ten or twenty minutes.
 
Abra nodded, walking confidently up to one of the bank’s side rooms. The man inside looked up confused for a moment, hiding a grimace with a large smile. “Welcome to Milwa Key Bank, come on in!”
 
All it took was a suit and tie for the average service employee to bend over backwards to try and accommodate you, Abra thought. His average performance outfit received scorn and disgust outside of the context of his shows, but when he looked rich, all of the sudden he didn’t even need an appointment.
 
“Hello! My wife and I recently moved here, and we’d like to begin the process of rehoming our assets. Figured we’d start at least with a simple account or three to keep things centralized here in Milwa Key and give us access to, you know, the financial support staff here to get our bigger stuff moved over.”
 
Was this how rich people talked? He wasn’t sure.
 
“Well certainly, we’re happy to have you here. What is your name? You need multiple accounts, for you and your wife?”
 
Abra smiled. “Well, my name is Ibrim Nassau, and my wife’s name is Carol Bennd. We’d like to open personal accounts for each of us, as well as a shared account for our personal corporation that we handle shared expenses through, C.B.I.N. Inc.”
 
“Certainly. Unfortunately, I can’t help you with the shared account if you wish it to be connected to a company—that would require an appointment with a corporate representative who isn’t in today. I also can’t open an account for your wife without her here to consent and sign the paperwork.”
 
Abra nodded, turning back to the open door. “Carol, they’ll need you for when they make your account.”
 
Lisa looked up, halfway finished putting on her second ice skate. “Just do yours first, I’m in the middle of something here!”
 
Abra turned back to the employee. “Mine first, she’ll be in shortly. Women,” he joked, watching an air of unease settle on the employee between his comment and watching Lisa putting on ice skates. He didn’t go for any sort of alarm system yet, though.
 
“Understood. Do you have a local ID to Milwaukee County yet, or are you still out-of-county or out-of-state?”
 
“Actually, if you’d believe it, funnily enough, I’m, out of time!”
 
The joke barely landed as the bank employee stood up in horror, staring out the door as he watched Lisa icing off the entry to the bank. Before he could even shout anything or react, Abra blew across his open palm in the man’s direction, watching him grow drowsy then fall to the floor asleep in a matter of seconds.
 
The alarms went off, but that was fine. The quiet part was over and pretending to be upright citizens was tiring, anyways.
 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
 
“Iced over bank in Milwaukee,” Barry sighed, placing down his phone and looking up to Jay.
 
Jay, for his part, didn’t seem quite as exhausted. “Cap. Cold?”
 
“I sent a message to the prison, they’ll get back to me, but you’d think they’d give us a heads up if he went missing already. Bit of travel to get to Wisconsin if he broke out today.”
 
Jay stood up, switching into his outfit. “His stuff was always tech, possible someone figured out his nonsense and recreated it?”
 
Barry joined him, and the two ran out the door. “Let us know if the prison gets back to us, please,” Jay called over the communication device, and a confirmation from Nora Allen was their final comment from the compound before they arrived on the scene.
 
For a late May afternoon, with the temperature somewhere in the 90s, the vision of a fully frozen over bank building was almost an appealing sight. The local officer, on their arrival, jogged over.
 
“Good to see you, Flashes! Alarms started going off about an hour ago, but due to a technical hiccup in our system we didn’t find out until about a half hour ago. We sent in our report on arrival. All entrances are iced over, we’ve got a hostage negotiator on their way but we don’t know how many folks are trapped inside.”
 
“Do you know who might’ve done this?”
 
“Nope. No ice metahuman records in the region.”
 
“Gotcha, thank you. You mind if we try to do something, or would you like us to wait to see what happens?”
 
“By all means, Flash, y’all are the experts here. Policy is to let proven folks like you ahead, even after whatever happened during the winter. But I’m sure you don’t wanna hear policy ramblings.”
 
Barry took a deep breath. He didn’t want to hear policy ramblings, especially after the Flashpoint time rewriting, for sure. “Thanks, Chief.”
 
The two approached the iced over building, Jay running a finger across the ice. “Cold,” which confirmed at least that it wasn’t illusionary or a trick of the eye somewhat. What it also meant was that it could be shattered.
 
The two walked up to the front door, each placing their hands up to the ice. The vibration of their fingers and palm started small, testing the density and thickness of the ice first. Then the vibrations grew in intensity, melting the ice directly on it and nearby but also introducing faults throughout the structure. This would probably break the doors as well, but there were resources to pay for damages.
 
The heat melted more ice than the vibrations chipped any off, until about thirty seconds in. Some inflection point had passed, and large cracks showed up all throughout the ice, before a large chunk shattered in front of them. Not large enough to walk comfortably through, but enough to take advantage of the surprise to crawl through and get inside.
 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
 
Ugh. Whatever that crash upstairs was, it wasn’t good tidings.
 
Lisa glanced at Abra, both grimacing as they tried, wordlessly, to figure out who was going to be the one heading upstairs. They were both in the bank’s vault, tossing bundles of cash through an open portal. They hadn’t even bothered to secure or watch the hostages, feeling confident that most average folks would rather sit still than risk being frozen into a popsicle or magic’d into nonexistence.
 
“Let me go up and see what that’s about, you keep getting money,” Abra offered, heading towards the staircase. Lisa was satisfied with that, a magician probably could defend himself better than her ice skates could. Abra jogged up the stairs, hearing the sounds of many sets of footprints. Hostages escaping or police force coming in. Probably both.
 
Instead of rushing in head first, Abra sprinkled a bit of dust on himself, making himself nearly invisible to the naked eye. He hugged the wall as he left the stairwell, eyes focused first on where the hostages were told to stay – all gone. The two Flashes in the main entryway were his next focus. He crushed a small marble in his pocket, sending a warning to Lisa downstairs – now was the time for her to leave.
 
Time to leave their mark. The two of them didn’t seem to see or hear him as he moved out of their stairwell, pulling out a small cylinder of herbs and powder. He snapped it in two, throwing each half at the two Flashes. As soon as it came out of his invisible cloak, the two reacted fast enough to get out of the way, but it served its purpose.
 
The tubes began their effect, turning into a condensed area of choking gas. The Flashes were no longer in there, but it was enough for them to focus on as he moved onto his next step. He rubbed a bit of lotion on his wrists, using the magic to then float up in the air. Flashes were fast, but they were vertically challenged, so long as he stayed out of arm’s reach in the air there wasn’t much they could do.
 
The Flashes investigated the gas, taking a sample seemingly as the one with the metal hat charged off towards the vault. When he came back empty-handed, Abra felt confident that Lisa had dipped. He took out two small spheres, tossing them at nearby walls. They exploded on impact, spelling out their requested calling card—CBIN—in a material that would slowly shift colors while also being difficult to remove.
 
Abra wanted to mess with the Flashes more, but getting caught right now was going to be terrible. One of them was already doing a touch test on every inch of the building he could reach, so the longer he waited the more he risked one of them doing some superspeed nonsense to find him. This wasn’t even supposed to be an actual interaction, he had been running a script for generic SWAT teams. It was time to go.
 
A small wand apparated in his hand, which he circled around himself. A quick teleport back to home base ensured his safety, though the rush of adrenaline still kept him on edge.
 
“What happened, you’re back quick,” Lisa asked, not even finished organizing the bags of money they had lifted.
 
“Flashes showed up,” Abra groaned, taking a deep breath. “Not convinced we were set up, they didn’t seem to be expecting me.”
 
“Guess we’ll see what the Curator says, if anything. Bad bait if they couldn’t even figure out your gimmicks after all of this.”
 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
 
Jay sighed, shaking his head. “Why ice, though? Really feels targeted in a way, who is going to freeze over a building and then just ignore the hostages other than Snart?”
 
Wally nodded. “Just not dismissing possibilities. Do we know for sure that was him? Do we know for sure that the magician or whatever the guy you faced was acting alone?”
 
“Nobody else in the building. I suppose they could’ve escaped alongside the hostages, but surely the hostages wouldn’t just let their captor slip out with them.”
 
Wally’s eyes narrowed. “It’s happened before, no?”
 
“In movies, maybe,” Jay chuckled. “We shouldn’t discount the possibility, I guess. Just seems so odd to me that the building freezes over, but then whatever we actually faced inside was like, gas canisters and graffiti bombs. Pretty sure there’s more, given that we never actually saw where the things were coming from, but hard to pinpoint what or how.”
 
“CBIN, right?”
 
“Not even a shell company. We’re trying to track down what it could be connected to, but anything associated with CBIN seems to be entirely disconnected. And no hostage remembers anything. Even the guy who was supposedly talking to him claims to have a blank spot on what the guy was saying or what he looked like.”
 
Elsewhere in the country, a man and a woman sat quietly. The man lifted each stack of bills telekinetically, magically detaching the dye that had stained each banknote. It wasn’t a particularly quick process, but it was calming. At least Abra was able to do it stack by stack, which made the process faster.
 
The woman sat at a computer, typing out a letter. They were growing more suspicious of the Curator, given that The Flash had shown up. Their understanding was that the Flash Museum, which the Curator was supposedly a part of, was not on good talking terms with The Flash folk themselves.
 
And yet, two of them had shown up. That wasn’t a smoking gun, The Flash could show up literally anywhere they wanted at presumably seconds’ notice, but for them to show up after this had been the Curator’s request hit for authenticity? They weren’t going to cut off contact with the Curator, not just yet, but they both were more suspicious than they had been. They hadn’t even mentioned the Flash appearance yet to Anthony, who likely would’ve reached poorly. He didn’t remember hating The Flash during the time change nonsense but had been willing to learn. The two of them felt better holding on to the information for now, anything suspicious might’ve caused him to careen into theorist worries and get cold feet.
 
They sat quietly. The next step, no matter what the Curator responded with, was to find more allies. The Curator was a potential sponsor, which was fine, but they needed more allies that could help in a fight. Lisa remembered more than just the three of them—four of them, but the kid didn’t want to join—during their time experience but finding them had been more difficult.

I have a friend in the middle of an audit for a bar and grill. The state overestimated sales and percentages in some of the wine/liquor analysis using their sampling weighed average computer program. After writing an abatement letter, they now reduced the penalty to 40% of the tax they estimated due. It’s a very large number based on their estimates over a 3 year audit, almost 200K which includes penalty and interest. The company does not have pos statements, was very unorganized and did not keep records. However, they have bank statements showing the business’s deposits and day to day transactions. Moreover, there are tax returns that verify lower amounts as well. There is a small discrepancy between deposits and tax returns, but the return could be amended to match the amounts. The auditor sent the final email reflecting a decrease in penalties of three tax but it is still high and the tax, nothing was stated regarding interest. Moreover, the letter stated payments could be made within a week or NOT. Then it went on to state after a certain date, you will have 30-60 days to appeal. I can’t remember word per word.
Some facts: sales records weren’t available, taxes were included in all sales, not separately. Sales and sales taxes were understated and there were discrepancies from non intentional mistakes in reporting. Discrepancies were made apparent in the beginning of the audit. However, sales were not as high as what they are estimating. I’m thinking they always overestimate??
Can someone please give some insight upon how to proceed given this scenario. My thought process is, if payment is made, the company is agreeing to the amounts they have determined, so I don’t want the company to make a payment until after appealing.
Should bank statements be submitted to the current auditor or during the appeal?
Is there a way to get the penalties decreased or completely removed? Can this be appealed?
So many similar businesses in the area have went out of business. I don’t want that to happen to this business. Covid hit and hit hard, and now this??
Any insight would be greatly appreciated!!

I was living with my parents and actings as their the main caregiver. My Dad was singing my praises and my siblings were concerned my Dad would change his will to my benefit so without me knowing, they organized a full-time live-in caregiver.
They told the caregiver I was 'violent' when I have never hit anyone in my life. They told her I was stalking her (which is complete nonsense) and she then told my Dad she was too scared to live with me so my Dad was forced to ask me to leave but then he said he was sick of being held hostage in his own home and asked me to come back. Dad asked me to have a meeting with her so we could all try and live in peace and harmony but my siblings had fed her so many negative stories about me she said she wanted to leave but then she said something strange. She said she 'needed to be fired'.
Then about 10 days later, social services came to the house and had a meeting with her and my siblings and my Dad. I was informed that my siblings (who were responsible for paying her via my Dad's bank account) made her file a complaint against me to social services saying I was abusing my parents.
After this meeting she left claiming she was 'fired' and then I realized that under her contract if someone is fired they have to be paid a severance. My Dad has memory challenges but he said he didn't fire her. She emailed him a letter of resignation and he felt that she gave him an ultimatum "Me or your daughter" but he didn't fire her. either way my siblings then hounded him with phone calls and emails threatening that she would sue him for a year's wages unless he paid her a severance which she was entitled to because he 'fired' her. The cleaning lady wasn't fully at the meeting but she said she sensed that the caregiver, surrounded by my siblings, just complained about me and said she wanted to leave.
When she left I was helping my Dad figure everything out. He is 76 and wasn't paying attention to my siblings paying her but she was contractually said her payment was $2300 per month. My siblings paid her $3.6k. In her final payslip she claimed 24 overtime hours over 8 days. when my Dad queried these she was told they were because 'builders were in the house'. when he asked why he was contractually or legally responsible she just responded "This amount of money means nothing to you" Dad was emotionally drained and due to constant threats from my siblings paid her a severance and bogus overtime.
I suspect that she went to my siblings, told them she wanted to leave and then they either verbally or non-verbally said 'submit a report to social services about our sister and we will take care of you."
I had no involvement with hiring her via her agency but can I legally reach out and ask them

1. For a copy of the 'complaint' she submitted to social services about me?
2. An understanding of why Dad 'fired' her. He must have had a reason right?
3. An explanation of why she was paid so much extra by my siblings.
4. An understanding of why she was entitled to overtime for 'builders being in the house'.
5. Also my siblings were blocking my Dad from getting the care he needed. Can I ask her what steps she took to ensure my Dad got the right care?
6. Can I say 'Hey if we find bogus overtime hours/severance you can repay my Dad or else I will go to the police"

If I can't ask for these things - who can?
I want this evidence to show my siblings were using manipulation, coercion and financially taking advantage of my Dad and the situation with the caregiver is part of that.
Thanks for your help!